GPS Satellite Launch Coming October 30, 2015
Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2015 2:02 pm
October 30, 2015 is the scheduled date for the launch of the U.S. Air Force NAVSTAR GPS satellite GPS IIF-11. This will be the second to last of the Block IIF-series of satellites. GPS IIF-11 is the eleventh in the Block IIF series. These satellites feature improvements and enhancements over previous generations of GPS satellites. The most notable of these is the addition of more civilian signals which will provide users with a much enhanced position fix accuracy by being able to adjust for real-time variations in the speed of signal propagation through the ionosphere. Of course, users will need more sophisticated GPS receivers to obtain this improvement. The situation is much like the classic cart-and-horse problem. Before there can be GPS receivers to use the improved signals there must be satellites in orbit to provide them.
Assuming all goes well for GPS IIF-11, the GPS constellation will then have 11 of the newer satellites in orbit, in a total constellation of 32 active satellites. That means about one-third of the GPS constellation will be of the modern Block IIF design, and there should be a high probability that one of the Block IIF satellites will always be overhead for any user.
The launch vehicle will be an Atlas V-401 from United Launch Alliance (ULA). As usual, the ULA website will have a live broadcast of the launch.
For more details, see:
http://www.ulalaunch.com/
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/003777.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GPS_satellites
Assuming all goes well for GPS IIF-11, the GPS constellation will then have 11 of the newer satellites in orbit, in a total constellation of 32 active satellites. That means about one-third of the GPS constellation will be of the modern Block IIF design, and there should be a high probability that one of the Block IIF satellites will always be overhead for any user.
The launch vehicle will be an Atlas V-401 from United Launch Alliance (ULA). As usual, the ULA website will have a live broadcast of the launch.
For more details, see:
http://www.ulalaunch.com/
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum6/HTML/003777.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_GPS_satellites