Aerospace and Defense

Raytheon Wins $1.5-Billion GPS OCX Contract
February 26, 2010

Raytheon Wins $1.5-Billion GPS OCX Contract

Raytheon Corporation graphic

Officials from the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Global Positioning Systems Wing announced today (February 25) the award of the Next Generation GPS Control Segment (OCX) contract to Raytheon Company, Intelligence & Information Systems, Aurora, Colorado.

With a baseline duration of 73 months, the OCX development contract has option years for sustainment worth a potential total of $1,535,147,916. Raytheon teammates include Boeing, ITT, Braxton Technologies, Infinity Systems Engineering, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

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By Inside GNSS
Ready to Navigate!
February 16, 2010

Ready to Navigate!

After three decades of increasingly widespread use, satellite navigation-based services have changed significantly, especially for general users in the mass market. New technology enablers such as assisted GPS (A-GPS), the use of massively parallel correlation, and the application of advanced positioning techniques have significantly enhanced the time-to-first-fix (TTFF) and sensitivity of today’s receivers.

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First GPS Block IIF Satellite Moves to Cape Canaveral: Launch Window Opens Mid-May
February 11, 2010

First GPS Block IIF Satellite Moves to Cape Canaveral: Launch Window Opens Mid-May

First Block IIF Satellite (Boeing)

[updated Februaary 16] The first Block IIF satellite is undergoing final launch preparations after arriving at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard a Boeing-built C-17 Globemaster III airlifter.

Space Vehicle 1 (SV-1), the first of 12 GPS IIF satellites for the U.S. Air Force, will lift off on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV vehicle later this year, with the first launch window in mid-May.

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By Inside GNSS
New LMCO SV Lab Will Support GPS IIIA Production
January 28, 2010

New LMCO SV Lab Will Support GPS IIIA Production

Inside the LM Space Vehicle Integration Laboratory. Lockheed Martin photo

Lockheed Martin has announced that its new Space Vehicle Integration Laboratory (SVIL) near Denver, Colorado, has achieved initial operational capability and is supporting the company’s satellite development program activity, including the production run of the next-generation GPS IIIA spacecraft.

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By Inside GNSS
ESA, Industry Sign Galileo FOC Contracts

ESA, Industry Sign Galileo FOC Contracts

Aerial view of ESA-ESTEC facility at Noordwijk, The Netherlands. ESA photo by A. Van Der Geest

René Oosterlinck, the European Space Agency’s director of the Galileo program and navigation-related activities, and company representative signed the first three contracts for the Galileo full operational capability (FOC) phase on January 26. The event marks the official start of building the Galileo operational infrastructure.

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By Inside GNSS
gnssfor.png
January 8, 2010

GNSS Forum: How Galileo Can Help Europe Recover from the Economic Crisis

Back in 1999, the European Union decided to set up a global satellite navigation system (GNSS), known as Galileo, for civil and commercial use. Early 2010 the European Commission awarded the contracts for Galileo’s first satellites, launchers and support services. In 2011 the European system will finalize its validation phase. As a result, the initial service provision of Europe’s satellite navigation system could start as of early 2014.

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Modernization Milestone

Modernization Milestone

The New Year’s festivities had ended and satellite operators at the 2d Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS) at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, were hard at work conducting routine operations on the GPS satellites. At around 11:30 in the morning local time (1830 UTC) on January 1, 2004, range errors for space vehicle number (SVN) 23 began to rapidly drift above the 30-meter threshold.

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New Software, Delays for GPS Control Segment, IIF Satellite

New Software, Delays for GPS Control Segment, IIF Satellite

Block IIF satellite

The U.S. Air Force GPS Wing and the 50th Space Wing will implement a new ground system software release on January 11 to enable telemetry, tracking, and commanding for the new GPS IIF satellites and provide over-the-air distribution of encryption keys for military user P(Y)-code equipment.

The software will be implemented by the GPS Master Control Center at Schriever AFB, Colorado.

Meanwhile, the schedules for launching the first IIF spacecraft and awarding the prime contract for modernization of the GPS operational control segment (OCX) continue to slip.

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By Inside GNSS
GPS III Contractor Helps Washington Navigate the Delaware
December 26, 2009

GPS III Contractor Helps Washington Navigate the Delaware

Re-enactment of Washington’s Crossing. State of New Jersey photo

Lockheed Martin Space Systems bestowed a $400,000 Christmas present on a Pennsylvania park district, helping preserve the organization’s 57-year-old tradition of re-enacting Gen. George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River in 1776 during the Revolutionary War.

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By Inside GNSS
GNSS Hotspots | November 2009
November 23, 2009

GNSS Hotspots | November 2009

One of 12 magnetograms recorded at Greenwich Observatory during the Great Geomagnetic Storm of 1859
1996 soccer game in the Midwest, (Rick Dikeman image)
Nouméa ground station after the flood
A pencil and a coffee cup show the size of NASA’s teeny tiny PhoneSat
Bonus Hotspot: Naro Tartaruga AUV
Pacific lamprey spawning (photo by Jeremy Monroe, Fresh Waters Illustrated)
“Return of the Bucentaurn to the Molo on Ascension Day”, by (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Canaletto
The U.S. Naval Observatory Alternate Master Clock at 2nd Space Operations Squadron, Schriever AFB in Colorado. This photo was taken in January, 2006 during the addition of a leap second. The USNO master clocks control GPS timing. They are accurate to within one second every 20 million years (Satellites are so picky! Humans, on the other hand, just want to know if we’re too late for lunch) USAF photo by A1C Jason Ridder.
Detail of Compass/ BeiDou2 system diagram
Hotspot 6: Beluga A300 600ST

1. NOTHING BEATS FREE
Mountain View, California
√ Google’s open-source, customizable Android OS uses its own maps for a free GPS feature on the new Verizon Motorola “Droid” phone. It’s shaking mobile map giants Navteq and Tele Atlas and the smart phone and PND developers who lease from them. Google’s free GPS could appear on the iPhone as well.

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By Alan Cameron
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