Apr 27 2009
GPS Fully Functional - This Day in History
On this day, April 27, 1995, the United States Air Force Space Command declares that the Global Positioning Satellite NAVSTAR constellation is now fully functional. In these early days, the GPS systems were primarily used for military applications and provided very precise accuracy for military missions.
GPS or Global Positioning System is a precision navigation system designed and developed by the Unites States Department of Defense and operated by the 50th Space Wing of the United States Air Force. The GPS system is free to all to use and is often used by civilians for navigational purposes, either for boating, aviation, hiking, or for commuting.
The GPS constellation consists of 24 and 32 medium Earth orbit satellites. These satellites transmit a precise radio signal that is picked up the GPS receiver. The GPS receiver is then able to use the information gathered from multiple signals that it receives from the satellites that are in ‘view’ to determine latitude, longitude, elevation (altitude), and speed. The GPS transmits a time signal to keep the receiver on the same time as the satellite constellation. Each satellite has an atomic clock on board to keep its time functions accurate.
Today’s post was primarily aimed at introducing you to GPS and this important day in the life of the GPS system. There is some math and history to go along with how GPS works and how it got to where it is today – we will save these goodies for another lesson.
It definitely is an amazing system. Always gets me to where I want go when I traveling out state.