We now definitively declare “curtain up!” on the second act of the human and technological drama, Interoperable Global Navigation Satellite Systems, by many authors, directors, and actors, upon the global stage. It happened on August 2 with removal of the message 0 (“Do Not Use in aviation”)...
Read More →September 1992. One of the first industrial uses of GPS came in survey and seismic exploration for offshore oil, as evidenced by the cover story of this magazine’s September 1992 issue. A salient passage from that 18-year-old “Quality Control For Differential GPS in Offshore Oil and Gas Explorat...
Read More →At press time, GPS spacecraft IIF-1 was set to be launched May 27 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This first of a new generation of satellites will travel quickly — instead of taking several days to reach its orbital slot, the new satellite should make the journey in thre...
Read More →“This is an event where one gets one’s goals for the next year.” Paul Verhoef, program director for satellite navigation programs of the European Commission, may have exaggerated for effect, and for the benefit of his audience and hosts at the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit in March. But n...
Read More →With final satellite construction bids pending as this magazine goes to press, the Galileo program clarified a recent round of launch postponements and announced that the European Union (EU) will rescind its requirement for a special license to manufacture and sell Galileo receivers. “We have an a...
Read More →Four Galileo in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites scheduled to launch next year have already missed their first pad date.The European version of Russia’s Soyuz rocket is now scheduled to carry the four IOV satellites into orbit in two launches in November 2010 and early 2011, as announced by Europ...
Read More →A few short weeks ago, the U.S. GPS program had its posterior firmly planted in the catbird seat. Government spokespeople in international fora looked on benignly as European, Chinese, and Russian GNSS programs struggled to resolve their issues and meet their heady challenges. All was well with the ...
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