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. AQUARIUS
Buenos Aires, Argentina and Vandenberg AFB, California, USA
1. AQUARIUS
Buenos Aires, Argentina and Vandenberg AFB, California, USA
√ Aquarius/Sac-D earth observatory, a joint project of NASA and Argentina’s space agency, CONAE, launched from Vandenberg AFB on June 10. Its science instruments include Italy’s ROSA GPS receiver and the U.S. TDP, a GPS navigation and inertial guidance technology demonstration. Ocean salinity measuring is the satellite’s main mission.
Aquarius mission Argentina (United Launch Alliance)
2. DOG HIS PREY
Washington D.C., USA
√ On June 27, The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to untangle legal confusion on GPS-aided surveillance and privacy rights. In United States v. Jones, police secretly tracked a suspect for weeks. D.C. Circuit judge Douglas Ginsburg said it’s not ok “for a stranger to dog his prey” until he knows everything about you. We’ll see next fall.
(June 28 2011 Inside GNSS) U.S. Supreme Court to Weigh In on GPS Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment
3. FOLLOWING ON
Cape Canaveral, Florida USA
√ SVN-63, the second of 12 planned GPS IIF satellites launched successfully from Cape Canaveral on July 16. The first IIF boasts a boffo atomic clock, but earlier had trouble with L1, L2 and L5 signals; its M-code signal was switched off in April.
(July 22 2010 Inside GNSS) Air Force Investigating Residuals in GPS IIF Signals
(July 19, 2010 Air Force Space Command) SMC Update on Next Generation GPSS IIF-1 Satellite On-orbit Checkout
GPS.GOV space segment page
United Launch Alliance
4. NATALIA
Varna, Bulgaria
√ Natalia is Europe’s first Galileo IOV satellite, scheduled for lift off from Kourou, French Guiana on October 20, 2011. It’s named for a nine-year old Bulgarian girl who won an EC-sponsored drawing contest with her colorful rendition of two astronauts meeting on Mars. All 30 planned satellites will be named after EU children.
(June 16 2011 European Commission) Bulgarian Natalia on Galileo’s Satellite
5. RICKSHAW WARS
New Delhi, India
√ Commuters depend on New Delhi’s 55,000 auto-rickshaws, called tut-tuts, but it’s a wild ride. This summer, the state transportation authority mandates GPS-assisted tracking devices, using SatNav Technologies maps, on the three-wheelers to control fraud and reduce harassment of customers. Low-wage drivers walked off the job in May, demanding help with installation costs.
(July 6 2011 Techcircle.in) SatNav’s Maps to be Installed in Autos; Govt Authorises Tracking
(June 28 2011 Times of India) July Deadline for GPS in Autos, Trials Next Week
(May 20 2011 Indo Asian News Service | IANS) Auto strike cripples Delhi; unions refuse to budge
(May 20 2011 The Hindu) Auto-rickshaws set to go on strike from today
(May 14 2011 Delhi Information) GPS row: Autos to go off roads from May 20
