The U.S. Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin Company a $6 million contract to develop and integrate a demonstration payload that will temporarily transmit an L5 civil signal on a modernized GPS Block IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellite.

Meanwhile, a request for proposals (RFP) was released in mid-April for the next-generation Block III space segment contract. An RFP for the GPS was released to industry on February 23.

This new L5 contract directs Lockheed Martin and its navigation payload supplier ITT in Clifton, N.J., to provide an on-orbit demonstration capability for the new civil signal located on the L5 frequency (1176MHz). The Block IIR-M spacecraft with the demonstration payload is planned for launch in 2008.

L5 will be a regular part of the GPS signals transmitted by the follow-on GPS satellites (Block IIF) being built by Boeing Company. The first IIF launch is also scheduled for next year.

“We are pleased the Air Force has entrusted Lockheed Martin to provide this important on-orbit demonstration on a Block IIR-M spacecraft,” said Don DeGryse, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of navigation systems.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Valley Forge, Pa., is the prime contractor for the GPS IIR program. The company designed and built 21 IIR spacecraft for the GPS Wing (formerly the NAVSTAR GPS Joint Program Office), Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.

With the first launch nearly 10 years ago, all of the 15 IIR satellites activated to date are still operating on orbit.

The final eight spacecraft, designated Block IIR-M, were modernized to enhance operations and navigation signal performance for military and civilian GPS users around the globe. ITT supplied all 21 navigation payloads for both the IIR and IIR-M spacecraft.

GPS Wing Leadership to Change.

The GPS Wing will have a new leader this summer, when Col. David Madden becomes the commander there, replacing Col. Wesley “Al” Ballenger.

Madden became vice-commander of the GPS Wing in July 2006. Although his return to Los Angeles AFB is recent, Madden has had previous experience in GPS-related programs. From July 2001 to September 2002, he was the Combat Survivor Evader Locator (CSEL) program manager, at GPS JPO and then, until July 2004, chief of the Command, Control, Communications and Navigation Division, Directorate of Requirements, in Air Force Space Command headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

Copyright 2007 Gibbons Media and Research LLC

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President Bush’s appointment of retired U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Thomas Barrett as Acting Deputy Secretary of Transportation has brought a new co-chairman to the U.S. Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee (PNT EXCOM).

Barrett arrived in March just ahead of the first meeting of a new 24-member advisory committee and with the first allocation for Department of Transportation (DoT) funding of the new GPS civil L1 (L1C) signal working its way through Congress.

The advisory board, established by NASA on behalf of the EXCOM, is chaired by James Schlesinger, who has served in past administrations as secretary of defense, head of the energy department, and CIA director. Brad Parkinson, a Stanford University professor emeritus and the first director of the GPS Joint Program Office, serves as vice-chair of the group, which includes six international members.

The March 29–30 gathering of advisors was dedicated to organizational matters and a series of background briefings on “PNT challenges and opportunities” by EXCOM agency representatives, GPS status and modernization reports from U.S. EXCOM officials, and the president’s 2004 PNT policy, by Philip Ritcheson, director of space policy for the National Security Council.

Barrett, a 36-year Coast Guard veteran, has served as administrator the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration since May 2006, a position he will retain in addition to DoT deputy secretary. Barrett replaces Maria Cino, who left the position to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the Committee on Arrangements for the 2008 Republican National Convention.

DoT Seeks L1C Funds

A $7.2 million dollar item in the president’s Fiscal Year 2008 (FY08) Department of Transportation budget proposal, split between the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Highway Department, would pay the first installment on the L1C signal planned for implementation under the GPS III program. The total five-year civil contribution for the new signal is expected to be more than $200 million.

Under a 2006 proposal from a bilateral (United States/European Union) technical working group, L1C will have a similar design as Europe’s Galileo Open Service (OS) signal. (See the overview article on L1C by the engineering team that designed it, beginning on page 42 of this issue.) First launch of a GPS Block III satellite is currently expected in 2013. Galileo’s OS signal will probably begin broadcasting on the second in-orbit validation (IOV) experimental satellite (GIOVE-B) planned for launch in December. Four Galileo IOV satellites will begin launching in 2009.

The DoT funds would underwrite system engineering analysis and prototyping in a research partnership with the Department of Defense for the L1C to meet civil integrity monitoring requirements. This would include prototyping of a GPS satellite time keeping system capable of meeting civil clock integrity requirements, according to the FAA’s 2007 National Aviation Research Plan.

Bush’s 2004 National Security Directive on Space-Based PNT mandated that any future GPS improvements designed for non-military users be funded by civil agencies.

Advisory Board Members

The 2004 directive also authorized formation of the advisory board, which will be staffed by Diane Rausch, a NASA representative in the PNT National Coordination Office that supports the EXCOM. The board will operate in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, providing advice about U.S. space-based PNT policy, services, planning, and program management.

In addition to Schlesinger and Parkinson, the advisors are:

Phil Boyer, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association; Captain Joseph Burns, United Airlines; Ann Ciganer, U.S. GPS Industry Council and vice-president of government affairs at Trimble Navigation; Susan Cischke, Ford Motor Company; Per Enge, professor, Stanford University; Martin Faga, Former President and CEO of MITRE; Keith Hall, Booz-Allen Hamilton; and Robert Hermann, Global Technology Partners, LLC.

Chester Huber, OnStar Corporation; David Logsdon, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; General Lance Lord, USAF (Ret.), Former Commander, Air Force Space Command; General James McCarthy, USAF (Ret.), professor, U.S. Air Force Academy; Terry McGurn, private consultant and a retired CIA employee;  Tim Murphy, The Boeing Company; Ruth Neilan, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Charles Trimble, chairman, U.S. GPS Industry Council.

International members of the advisory board are the following: Gerhard Beutler, International Association of Geodesy (Switzerland); Arve Dimmen, Norwegian Coastal Administration (Norway); Suresh V. Kibe, Indian Space Research Organization (India); Keith McPherson, Airservices Australia (Australia); Hiroshi Nishiguchi, Japan GPS Council (Japan); Captain Richard A. Smith, Royal Navy (Ret.), International Association of Institutes of Navigation (UK).

Copyright 2007 Gibbons Media and Research LLC

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Europe’s Galileo program continues to take small steps as it waits to see if it can get through an impasse between the European Commission (EC) and the consortium of companies seeking a concession to complete and operate the Galileo system.

At its March 22 meeting, the European Council of Transport Ministers gave the consortium until May 10 “to ensure the conditions for the resumption of negotiations with the GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA).” Failure to incorporate a Galileo Operating Company (GOC) and appoint a chief executive officer had led to a breakdown in the talks between the would-be public and private partners in the Galileo program.

According to industry representatives, a shareholder agreement has been reached among the eight consortium members effective the week of March 25, but neither a budget nor a CEO has been approved yet.

Reportedly, the consortium had identified a CEO candidate during a six-month search and negotiation process. However, the two months’ delay in incorporation of a GOC since an agreement was reached with the candidate may result in his not taking up the position.

In the meantime, Jean-François Bou, Galileo Program Director for France’s Thales Group, will continue as acting CEO of the concession consortium/GOC, a role that he assumed in June 2006.

Thales Acquisitions.

EC approval in early April of Thales bid to acquire Alcatel’s 67 percent stake in Alcatel Alenia Space (AAS) and its 33 percent share of Italy’s Telespazio may help simplify the complex industry relationships that have complicated work on Galileo.

Three Thales subsidiaries, AAS, and Telespazio’s parent company, Finmeccanica SpA of Italy are partners with EADS Astrium GmbH of Germany, the UKs EADS Astrium Ltd., Galileo Sistemas y Servicios of Spain (a consortium of seven Spanish companies) in the European Satellite Navigation Industries (ESNI) consortium. ESNI has a €1 billion–plus contract to the Galileo ground infrastructure and the first four in-orbit validation satellites.

Acquisition of Alcatel’s shares of AAS and Telespazio, together with its current 19 percent share in ESNI and its voting share in Alcatel Corporation, would give Thales a controlling share of ESNI and probably a larger voice in the concession consortium.

Meanwhile, the GSA Administrative Board has agreed on an “Intention To Proceed” (ITP) to adopt a multiplex binary offset carrier (MBOC) signal for the Galileo Open Service (OS). MBOC is a further refinement of the BOC(1,1) signal that the United States and European Union (EU) had agreed would serve as the common signal waveform for the most commonly used civil signals at the L1 frequency.

The ITP, however, is only the first step of the process for a final decision on the long-awaited common signal structure, which needs to be finalized before receiver manufacturers can design new equipment incorporating the GPS and Galileo signals. Several more official steps, legal checks, and agreements must take place before the GSA can render the definitive “Decision To Proceed.”

Ultimatum from the Top

The transport council took up the Galileo program at its March 22 meeting, following a pointed letter to the consortium from Jacques Barrot, the council’s president and vice-president of the EC, which is leading public participation in Galileo.

In it the council said it “expects substantial progress to be achieved in the negotiations, so that . . . the Council has adequate assurance that the concession negotiations are going ahead successfully, in particular on the basis of a credible roadmap to come to contractual conclusions as soon as possible.”

The council pointed to its June 7–8 meeting as a deadline for receiving the EC’s assessment of the overall progress of the Galileo program, including the outstanding issues raised by the consortium in its response to Barrot as well as the project cost and financing.

Also for the June meeting, the EC was asked to submit possible solutions for securing Galileo’s long-term public financial obligations, including a scenario for the earliest start up of European Geostationary Overlay Service (EGNOS) as a precursor to Galileo. Similar to the U.S. Wide Area Augmentation System or WAAS, EGNOS is designed to provide integrity alerts and differential corrections that will provide real-time positioning accuracy of around two meters.

Currently in pre-operational service, EGNOS will be certified in 2008 for safety-of-life applications such as air traffic control. However, funding for the program is expected to run out by March 2008.

Finally, the transport council asked the EC, assisted by GSA and the European Space Agency, to assess progress in the concession negotiations and to submit alternative scenarios — including assessments of associated costs, risks, and affordability — for the June council meeting.

Copyright 2007 Gibbons Media and Research LLC

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China has taken the next step in developing its Compass GNSS system, launching the nascent system’s first medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite into space on April 14.

The spacecraft joins four geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellites launched previously, which will be incorporated into an eventual Compass system of 5 GEOs and 30 MEOs, according to reports from the China news agency Xinhua. A few days earlier, China had overcome difficulties with the most recent GEO launched February 3 and indicated it was successfully in place.

Chinese sources say the system is expected to provide services to customers over China and neighboring countries by 2008, before being expanded into a global network.

The carrier rocket, a Long March 3-A, blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China’s Sichuan Province and was reported to have “accurately” entered its orbit at a height of about 13,300 miles. The GEOs are located about 22,000 miles above the Earth.

Xinhua cited “sources” as saying China is willing to cooperate with other countries in developing its satellite navigation industry to allow the “Compass” system to operate with other GNSSes. However, to date, those talks have apparently not begun.

In comments at the recent Munich Satellite Navigation Summit, Ralph Braibanti, director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Space & Advanced Technology, pointed to several successful bilateral discussions under way on GNSS, noting, “It’s important that the Chinese conduct the same type of meticulous negotiations with other providers, including the United States and Europe . . . to ensure that signals are compatible and interoperable.”

Copyright 2007 Gibbons Media and Research LLC

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