GPS World, December 2018
DIRECTIONS 2019 GPS GALILEO GLONASS BEIDOU Integrating the Enterprise DECEMBER 2018 WWW GPSWORLD COM GPS WORLD 9 N avigating across the worlds roads with GPS is easy Navigating through the shifting construction zones detours and forks of the GPS Enterprise is not always so straightforward For that reason the GPS Directorate has placed more emphasis on illustrating both figuratively and literally the roadmaps leading to the integration of the GPS Enterprise Before linking everything together lets start with an update on each major program effort This way you can zoom out to see the path ahead hopefully minimizing any route recalculating along the way Program Updates The journey to build the new GPS III satellites has been full of twists and turns but we are now close to our destination in this case the GPS orbit of 12550 miles above the Earth We not only have ten GPS III Space Vehicles simultaneously in production at Lockheed Martins manufacturing facility in Waterton Colorado but are also going full swing on preparations to launch our first vehicle in December 2018 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket more on this later The GPS III satellites provide signals designed to improve the users ability to navigate In addition to the increased power and greater accuracy GPS III adds a civil new signal L1C designed for compatability with the international Global Navigation Satellite Systems GNSS community GPS IIIF In September 2018 the Air Force awarded the GPS III Follow on contract to Lockheed Martin This 72B contract for 22 satellites was the result of a competitive process for a production effort Based on the GPS III technical baseline the GPS IIIF family of satellites embraces modernization and capabi l ity improvements in multiple areas First a Regional Military Protection capability will provide increased anti jam capabilities Furthermore a new Search and Rescue SAR GPS payload will provide improved timeliness of global search and rescue operations Additionally a Laser Retroreflector Array LRA payload will enable precise ranging measurements and the program will implement a Unified S Band capability to address BY Col Steven Whitney DIRECTOR GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEMS DIRECTORATE Photo U S Air Force Joseph Juarez Sr
You must have JavaScript enabled to view digital editions.
