How GPS Satellites Determine Your Position
Sunday, March 28th, 2010The first GPS satellite was launched in 1978, under the direct command of the US military forces. More than thirty other satellites have been launched ever since for military, aviation and individual usage worldwide. In the history of the Global Positioning System, more than just one GPS satellite has been lost during launches or afterwards. Some orbiting devices expired, others were replaced, but but no effort was spared for making GPS usage top quality. The decoding of the satellite signal is done by a GPS device or receiver that provides the exact geographical location according to three-dimensional coordinates.
Science has made such progress that GPS satellite navigation is now incorporated in the design of smartphones. People depend more and more on GPS orientation and problems may appear if replacements do not come for the orbiting satellites that will expire in a few years. For the moment, there are funding and management issues that impair the proper reconditioning of the Global Positioning System. The US Air Force is in charge of the entire GPS satellite structure, the economic difficulties put a lot of stress on the managers who lack funds to invest in reconditioning.
At present there are some 31 satellites in service and since only four are necessary to get a fix on the position, the average user will not feel a change if some of the orbiting devices fail to work. Sometimes information may get redundant as the same GPS receiver can get simultaneous data from six or eight satellites, which is more than necessary. But in the eventuality of no real time positioning with the GPS satellite structures, we’d have to start using maps all over again. The transportation systems, the maritime and military forces would suffer most if the satellites are not reconditioned.
In order to offer an alternative to the GPS satellite predominance, European states prepare to launch an independent satellite navigation system in 2010. There are other countries that have individual satellite navigation and here we can count India, China or Russia. Regardless of how things are sorted out in terms of policy, implementation and administration at the global level, the average user should not be seriously troubled by the different modifications that may occur in the GPS satellite system. In fact, the number of GPS users will get higher because of people’s attempt to improve the efficiency of navigation.
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