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. NUMBER 3
Cape Canaveral, Florida USA
√ A third GPS IIF has arrived at Cape Canaveral and is being prepped for an October 4 morning launch. Two of the “follow-on” models with better clocks, trickster-foiling technology and more powerful signals are already up. Numbers four and five are waiting to go.
1. NUMBER 3
Cape Canaveral, Florida USA
√ A third GPS IIF has arrived at Cape Canaveral and is being prepped for an October 4 morning launch. Two of the “follow-on” models with better clocks, trickster-foiling technology and more powerful signals are already up. Numbers four and five are waiting to go.
(October 4) Delta 4, GOS 2F-3 Launch
(July 25) Boeing ships 3rd GPS IIF Satellite to Cape Canaveral for Launch
(insidegnss.com, July 16, 2011) Successful Launch for Second GPS Block IIF Satellite
(Inside GNSS, September 2010) GPS IIF-1 satellite: Antenna Phase Center and Attitude Modeling
(insidegnss.com, May 28, 2010) GPS IIF: Up at Last!
2. ON A ROLL
Kourou, French Guiana
√ Soon the two Galileo in-orbit validation satellites launched last October will have company. As of August 17, Two more EU GNSS space vehicles, named David and Sif after a Czech boy and a Danish girl, are in place at Europe’s French Guiana spaceport for an October 2012 send up — exact date tba.
European Space Agency galiileo iov website
(insidegnss.com, August 7, 2012) Next Galileo Satellite Reaches French Guiana Launch Facility . . .
European Commission Galileo naming contest website
3. AWAY FROM IT ALL
London, UK
√ Now that we can’t live without GNSS, it occurs to us there are times when we must. The UK’s Royal Institute of Navigation will hold a one-day conference on Life Without GNSS on November 22 that covers radio systems, autonomous sensors, terrain matching and training outdoors and other exact and robust ways to figure out where we are . . . and how to get away.
Royal Institute of Navigation NAV series website
London Mapping Festival August 2012 article
4. TOILET TRAINING
Glasgow to Mallaig, Scotland
√ The scenic West Highland Railroad line has a problem. Too many flushes onto the tracks while trains are in the station. This November, ScotRail will introduce an electronic “smart” system that uses GPS technology to mark station coordinates and allow flushes only when the train is far away. “We hope it will take away the ghastly sight of waste on the tracks,” the rail chairman said.
(The Scotsman, August 11, 2012) Satellite loo-blocker leaves ScotRail chiefs flushed with success
5. PROPERTY LINES
Maharashtra, Dangs and Narmada, India
√ GPS is helping solve bitter disputes between India’s government and forest-dwelling adivasi or “scheduled tribes.” India gave remote groups the right to their forest plots in 2006 – but how do you prove it? Enter geo-informatics. Even without electricity or cell coverage, you can collect GPS data, super-impose it on satellite maps to identify cultivated areas, then stake your claim.
(Indian Express, August 19, 2012) Tribals go hi-tech to claim forest land
(Hinudstan Times, August 15, 2012) Government to move Supreme Court to protect rights of tribals
(Governance Knowledge Centre, India) Geo-informatics for Forest Rights
(eIndia Awards) Use of Geoinformatics in the implementation of Forest Rights Act in Maharashtra
