Next-​​Gen GPS Takes Off

The first mod­ern­ized GPS satel­lite is now oper­a­tional, accord­ing to a Lockheed Martin press release:

A joint U.S. Air Force/​Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] team announced today that the first mod­ern­ized Global Positioning System (GPS) satel­lite has been declared fully oper­a­tional for GPS users around the globe fol­low­ing exten­sive on-​​orbit test­ing of the spacecraft’s new mil­i­tary and civil­ian sig­nals.
Launched on Sept. 25 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. the GPS IIR-​​14 (M) satel­lite is the most tech­no­log­i­cally advanced GPS satel­lite ever devel­oped. The space­craft fea­tures a mod­ern­ized antenna panel that pro­vides increased sig­nal power to receivers on the ground, two new mil­i­tary sig­nals for improved accu­racy, enhanced encryp­tion and anti-​​jamming capa­bil­i­ties for the mil­i­tary, and a sec­ond civil sig­nal that will pro­vide users with an open access sig­nal on a dif­fer­ent frequency.

The sec­ond mod­ern­ized GPS sat will launch early next year. A total of eight of these birds is planned.
Meanwhile, the first launch of Europe’s sat-​​nav pro­gram, Galileo, was pushed back from December 26th to the 28th. The satel­lite, built by Britain, will be launched on a Russian Soyuz rocket.
Meanwhile, India is going to use GLONASS, Russia’s answer to GPS and Gallileo.
–cross-​​posted by Murdoc

December 20th, 2005 | Space | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.