(UPDATED May 25) The next launch attempt of the first GPS IIF space vehicle (SV1)  has been tentatively set at Cape Canaveral for Thursday, May 27, when the launch window will be 11-11:19 p.m. EDT.

Originally scheduled for May 20, the launch was delayed several times. The fourth launch attempt  was scrubbed Sunday night.

(UPDATED May 25) The next launch attempt of the first GPS IIF space vehicle (SV1)  has been tentatively set at Cape Canaveral for Thursday, May 27, when the launch window will be 11-11:19 p.m. EDT.

Originally scheduled for May 20, the launch was delayed several times. The fourth launch attempt  was scrubbed Sunday night.

According to a United Launch Alliance (ULA) announcement, during the final seconds of the launch countdown, "an anomalous data signature with the thrust vector control system" on one of the two solid rocket motors mounted to the Delta IV booster was detected. The thrust vector control system is used to steer the solid rocket motors during flight.

The data signature triggered an automatic abort in the launch countdown. Mission managers are currently studying the situation to determine a corrective action plan.

The launch can be viewed via Webcast at:
http://www.ulalaunch.com.

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The third time wasn’t the charm for an attempted first launch of a GPS follow-on (Block IIF) generation of satellites.

Problems with ground support equipment and then with the telemetry signal between the spacecraft and the ground equipment have delayed initial launch of the new-generation satellite three times in the last four days.

Originally scheduled for May 20, the launch was postponed again on May 21 and May 23. Mission controllers hope to get the IIF off the ground on May 24.

The third time wasn’t the charm for an attempted first launch of a GPS follow-on (Block IIF) generation of satellites.

Problems with ground support equipment and then with the telemetry signal between the spacecraft and the ground equipment have delayed initial launch of the new-generation satellite three times in the last four days.

Originally scheduled for May 20, the launch was postponed again on May 21 and May 23. Mission controllers hope to get the IIF off the ground on May 24.

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China successfully launched another Compass satellite into geostationary orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan province at about 0:12 a.m. Beijing Time on Sunday (January 17).

China successfully launched another Compass satellite into geostationary orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan province at about 0:12 a.m. Beijing Time on Sunday (January 17).

It was the third satellite in the second-generation Beidou program that China has launched for its GNSS system, following a middle earth orbit (MEO) spacecraft sent up April 14, 2007 and a GEO spacecraft last April 18

On January 15, China also launched a government-run Compass website in Chinese, <www.beidou.gov.cn>, although good translations are available in several browsers. Meanwhile, another Shanghai Navigation Forum (NaviForum) is being planned for September 1 and 2 that will focus on the Compass navigation system. A previous NaviForum in December 2007 included presentations from engineering managers and political officials responsible Compass/Beidou-2. The 2010 event is supported by the China Ministry of Science and High Technology (MOST).

Program officials reasserted plans to complete an initial regional system by 2012 and a complete 35-satellite constellation by 2020, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The new satellite was boosted by a Chang Zheng (Long March-3C) carrier rocket into a geostationary orbit.

A China Daily article on the program underlined the strategic importance of the Compass program.

“Modern weapons, including guided missiles and missile defense systems, all need information supported by navigation satellites,” the newspaper quoted Peng Guangqian, a Beijing-based senior military strategist. “Relying on other navigation satellite systems for such information is impossible in wartime.”

The article also cited Cao Chong, a leading expert with China’s Association of Global Navigating Satellite Systems, who urged international cooperation on GNSS.

“If countries could strengthen cooperation, one system’s failure will not have a major impact when there are other systems in place,” Cao said.

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Russia got its GNSS program back on track on December 14 with the launch of three modernized GLONASS-M satellites — resuming a schedule interrupted by problems with a navigation payload on an in-orbit spacecraft.

Russia got its GNSS program back on track on December 14 with the launch of three modernized GLONASS-M satellites — resuming a schedule interrupted by problems with a navigation payload on an in-orbit spacecraft.

A Proton launcher took the trio of satellites into orbit at 1038 GMT (5:38 a.m. EST) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in central Kazakhstan.

The launch brings the total number of GLONASS satellites in orbit to 22 — although one of these is in the process of being decommissioned and two others are currently off-line for maintenance, including GLONASS #726 in which the signal generator problem was discovered. Another launch is expected in February 2010.

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Problems with a navigation payload on a recently launched GLONASS-M satellite appear to have become a greater cause for concern for Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) than previously expected, leading to a further delay in a scheduled September 25 launch until next February.

News reports from Russia and Europe cite a statement by Roskosmos this week that the launch will be postponed in order to carry out work to increase the reliability of the satellites.

The troubled on-orbit satellite — GLONASS #726 — was launched September 25, 2008, and began transmitting on GLONASS RF channel -3 last November 13, 2008. The problem with the signal generator was detected in late in August and the spacecraft taken out of service on August 31.

It remains uncertain whether the problem will affect the scheduled December 25 launch of three GLONASS-Ms.

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Chinese- and English-language versions of a draft Interface Control Document (ICD) for China’s Compass open service signals have been written and will probably be released within a year, a speaker at the Stanford PNT Symposium said in an October 22 presentation.

Chinese- and English-language versions of a draft Interface Control Document (ICD) for China’s Compass open service signals have been written and will probably be released within a year, a speaker at the Stanford PNT Symposium said in an October 22 presentation.

The draft remains subject to further refinements before release, according to Cao Chong, a researcher with the China Research Institute of Radiowave Propagation who works with the China Satellite Navigation Engineering Center responsible for building the Compass system.

Cao said the document would be published in a “step-by-step” fashion, beginning with the open B1 signals (at or near the GPS and Galileo L1/E2 frequency) and B2 signals (at Galileo E5b), and then other signals later on. The ICD will be publicly available via the Internet.

Meanwhile, the Compass/Beidou-2) launch schedule appears to have stretched out a little, now being characterized as 10 launches over the next two-three years. Earlier this year, Chinese speakers at the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit indicated that the schedule would include three satellite launches this year and seven more in 2010.

China could still reach its goal of offering a 12-spacecraft regional system by 2012, comprised of five geostationary orbit (GEO), three inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO), and four middle earth orbit (MEO) satellites.

The fully operational capability (FOC) global system expected to be in place by 2020 will add another 23 MEOs to the constellation. Launch of another GEO is planned by the end of 2009, joining the Compass M-1 MEO satellite launched April 14, 2007, and the G-2 GEO launched April 14 this year.

Cao said told Inside GNSS that this initial configuration was chosen to take advantage of the north-south footprint of the IGSOs that will maximize coverage over China and adjacent areas.

Launch of all five GEOs in the first phase will also enable Compass to provide a wide-area augmentation system capability at an early stage employing the data communications channel planned for those spacecraft.

In response to a question from the invited symposium audience, Cao said that about 20 Chinese manufacturers were producing Compass receivers, most of which include GPS capability. About one-third of those produce equipment for China’s defense establishment.

By next year, about 200 million GNSS receivers will have been deployed in China, with more than 700 million users expected by 2020, according to market data that Cao presented.

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The U.S. Air Force successfully launched the last in the series of eight modernized GPS (IIR-M) satellites today (August 17) at 6:35 a.m. (EDT).

Using the Space Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, the satellite was carried into space aboard the last of the Air Force’s United Launch Alliance Delta II rockets.

GPS IIR-21(M) will join the constellation of 30 operational satellites on-orbit, assuming a position in plane E, slot 3 and replacing space vehicle number 40 (SVN40). The Air Force expects to set the satellite healthy for navigation users worldwide next month.

The U.S. Air Force successfully launched the last in the series of eight modernized GPS (IIR-M) satellites today (August 17) at 6:35 a.m. (EDT).

Using the Space Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, the satellite was carried into space aboard the last of the Air Force’s United Launch Alliance Delta II rockets.

GPS IIR-21(M) will join the constellation of 30 operational satellites on-orbit, assuming a position in plane E, slot 3 and replacing space vehicle number 40 (SVN40). The Air Force expects to set the satellite healthy for navigation users worldwide next month.

The launch brings to a close a relationship between the Delta II and GPS programs that has lasted more than three decades. Since its first launch in February 1978 [[Editor’s Note: correction, make that "since its first launch in 1989" and "more than two decades"]], the Delta II has been the sole booster for the Block II, IIA, IIR, and IIR-M generations of GPS satellites that has enabled the United States Air Force to construct the current operational constellation.

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The scheduled August 17 launch of GPS satellite IIR-(21)M — also known by its space vehicle number SVN50 — will mark the end of a couple of eras: the final launch of the Lockheed Martin–built replenishment generation (Block IIR) of GPS satellites and the last Air Force launch using the Delta II rocket.

Notably, SVN50 will not have a payload connected to the J2 reserve auxiliary payload port that proved problematical with the L5 demonstration payload on the previous GPS satellite, SVN49, and possibly on other Block IIR/IIRMs.

Notably, SVN50 will not have a payload connected to the J2 reserve auxiliary payload port that proved problematical with the L5 demonstration payload on the previous GPS satellite, SVN49, and possibly on other Block IIR/IIRMs.

The Delta II launcher, under development at the time of the 1986 Challenger shuttle accident and rushed into use, has launched 48 GPS spacecraft since 1989 with a 97.8 percent success rate. Until the Challenger disaster, the Air Force had planned to use the space shuttles to get future generations of GPS satellites into orbit.

SVN50 will be placed into orbital plane/slot E3, replacing SVN40, a Block IIA satellite launched in July 1996 that is past its design life but still working well. SVN40 will be moved a little further along the orbital path. Successful launch and activation of the new satellite would bring the constellation to 31 operational satellites.

In response to an Inside GNSS question at a news conference August 6, Col. Dave Madden, GPS Wing commander, said that no use of the J2 port — believed to have caused a multipath problem and signal anomaly on SVN49 — was planned for SVN50.

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On June 15, the European Space Agency (ESA) signed contracts for launch services on the Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites as well as two additional contracts for “long lead items” needed to build the full operational capability (FOC) Galileo constellation of satellites.

The first contract, with Arianespace, will provide launch services for the four IOV Galileo satellites that will be placed in orbit by the end of 2010. Two Soyuz rockets, each carrying two Galileo spacecraft, will launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

On June 15, the European Space Agency (ESA) signed contracts for launch services on the Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites as well as two additional contracts for “long lead items” needed to build the full operational capability (FOC) Galileo constellation of satellites.

The first contract, with Arianespace, will provide launch services for the four IOV Galileo satellites that will be placed in orbit by the end of 2010. Two Soyuz rockets, each carrying two Galileo spacecraft, will launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

René Oosterlinck, ESA’s director of the Galileo program and navigation-related activities, and Jean-Yves Le Gall, chairman and CEO of Arianespace, signed the launch services contract in the presence of Paul Verhoef, manager of satellite navigation programs at the European Commission.

The four in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites will be placed in a circular orbit at an altitude of 23,600 kilometers. Development of the Galileo system is being carried out under a joint ESA/European Union program.

The launch vehicle chosen to carry the four Galileo IOV satellites into orbit is the Soyuz ST-B with a Fregat MT upper stage, which has been adapted for the deployment needs of the Galileo program.

Oosterlinck also signed two separate contracts — with Astrium GmbH and OHB — to begin the procurement of components such as flight management computers, attitude control systems, and atomic clocks — that take a long time to acquire and need to be ordered early to prevent program delays.

Reinhold Lutz, senior vice president for navigation, signed the Astrium GmbH contract, which amounts to €7 million (US$9.73 million. OHB CEO Manfred Fuchs signed his company’s contract, which amounts to €10 million (US$13.9 million).  

ESA expects to reach a decision on the overall contracts — to OHB, Astrium, or both — for 26 FOC satellites by the end of 2009. The award of two long-lead contracts may indicate a desire to follow a dual-source strategy in building the Galileo space segment.

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GPS program managers and users — especially the U.S. civil aviation community — can breathe a sign of relief following the successful launch Tuesday (March 24) of a satellite carrying a demonstration payload of the new L5 signal.

Built by the Lockheed Martin Company, the modernized Block II replenishment spacecraft, GPS IIR-20(M), is moving toward plane B, slot 2 to replace space vehicle number (SVN) 30. If all goes well, U.S. Air Force controllers expect to set the satellite healthy for navigation users worldwide next month.

Among other signals and capabilities, the IIR-20(M) will be the first to transmit the new GPS civil signal centered on 1176.45MHz (±12 MHz) within the protected aeronautical radionavigation service (ARNS) band. This so-called L5 signal will provide a second safety-of-life signal that meets the technical requirements for enabling aircraft to make precision landings in high multipath environments.

GPS program managers and users — especially the U.S. civil aviation community — can breathe a sign of relief following the successful launch Tuesday (March 24) of a satellite carrying a demonstration payload of the new L5 signal.

Built by the Lockheed Martin Company, the modernized Block II replenishment spacecraft, GPS IIR-20(M), is moving toward plane B, slot 2 to replace space vehicle number (SVN) 30. If all goes well, U.S. Air Force controllers expect to set the satellite healthy for navigation users worldwide next month.

Among other signals and capabilities, the IIR-20(M) will be the first to transmit the new GPS civil signal centered on 1176.45MHz (±12 MHz) within the protected aeronautical radionavigation service (ARNS) band. This so-called L5 signal will provide a second safety-of-life signal that meets the technical requirements for enabling aircraft to make precision landings in high multipath environments.

The Air Force faces an August 26 International Telecommunications Union (ITU) deadline for transmitting a signal on L5 in order to gain priority access to that frequency for GPS. Although the program is not completely out of the woods — the satellite still needs to reach it orbital location and begin broadcasts — the prospects look good at this point.

Delays in development of the GPS Block IIF satellites, which include the L5 signal capability as part of their basic design, led the Air Force to contract for the development of a demonstration payload that could be sent up earlier in order to meet the ITU deadline. That plan was threatened when a faulty 40-second timer on the third booster stage was discovered on the IIR-20(M) and IIR-21(M) satellites in June 2008, preventing launch of the spacecraft until the component could be replaced.

The IIR-M satellite, carried aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket, lifted off at 4:34 a.m. (EDT) from Space Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

The Air Force expects to launch its last GPS IIR-M satellite in August. This next mission will also be the last Air Force Delta II mission as the program transitions all its launch services to the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV).

According to the United Launch Alliance, one third of the 140 successful Delta II launches have been dedicated to GPS satellites. The very first Delta II launch on Feb. 14, 1989, was the the first GPS Block IIA spacecraft.

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