CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. — The Air Force’s Lockheed Martin-built Global Positioning System III satellite was encapsulated within the United Launch Alliance (ULA) payload fairing at Astrotech June 26 in preparation for its upcoming launch next month at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The USAF Space and Missile Systems Center, home to the vanguard of satellite acquisition professionals, and the nation’s launch procurer of choice, was responsible for GPS III SV02’s rigorous […]

News from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center GPS could be used to pilot in and around lunar orbit during future Artemis missions. A team at NASA is developing a special receiver that would be able to pick up location signals provided by the 24 to 32 operational GPS satellites. Such a capability could soon also provide navigational solutions to astronauts and ground controllers operating the Orion spacecraft, the Gateway in orbit around the Moon, and […]

The GPS satellite constellation is about to get its next heathy dose of new technology and more advanced capabilities. The second next-generation, Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)-built GPS III satellite – nick-named “Magellan” by the U.S. Air Force – is sealed up and ready for its planned July 25 launch. On June 26, Lockheed Martin Space and United Launch Alliance (ULA) technicians completed encapsulating GPS III Space Vehicle 02 (GPS III SV02) in its […]

A German research team successfully demonstrated a completely autonomous airplane landing in May, without assistance from any ground-based systems, fulfilling a key step towards autonomous air traffic and the much-bruited Urban Air Mobility (UAM). An optical reference system, encompassing a camera in the normal visible range and an infrared camera for conditions with poor visibility, combined with GPS to bring the modified Diamond DA42 in for a safe, unpiloted landing at the Diamond Aircraft airfield […]

On Sept. 25, the GPS Directorate will host the 2019 Public Interface Control Working Group and Open Forum to update the public on GPS public document revisions. The meeting will collect issues and comments for analysis and possible integration into future GPS public document revisions. The 2019 Public Interface Control Working Group and Open Forum are open to the general public. It can be attended in person or by dial-in connection. Documents Affected IS-GPS-200: Navigation […]

As an experienced aviator, Air Force retiree and founder of a paragliding company in Arkansas, Britton Shaw purchased an inReach® Explorer satellite communicator after imagining all the emergency scenarios that can occur while up in the air. When the need for an SOS occurred, however, Shaw was very much on the ground. He was perched precariously on the edge of a cliff after a rock slide in the remote mountains of Switzerland swept him off […]

Raytheon Company has signed a strategic agreement with AirMap, an airspace intelligence platform for drones, to collaborate on projects to safely integrate unmanned aerial systems (UAS) into the national airspace system. This will help unlock the positive economic and social benefits of expanded commercial drone operations, the companies said. Unmanned air traffic control advances will unlock safe, efficient, and scalable drone operations with a myriad of economic and social benefits. “AirMap is ushering in a […]

Within the United States, aircraft owners and pilots benefit from what many consider the best, and easiest, general aviation system in the world. In order to get from point A to point B domestically, it’s relatively simple. Pilots need to submit flight plans and study up on airspace, approach procedures and airport layouts for a given destination. But when it comes to crossing international borders, especially Canada, Mexico, Central America or the Caribbean, there are […]

Start Preamble Department of Defense, Department of the Air Force, Global Positioning System Directorate (GPSD). Meeting notice. This notice informs the public that the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) Directorate will host the 2019 Public Interface Control Working Group and Open Public Forum on September 25, 2019 for the following NAVSTAR GPS public documents: IS-GPS-200 (Navigation User Interfaces), IS-GPS-705 (User Segment L5 Interfaces), IS-GPS-800 (User Segment L1C Interface), and ICD-GPS-870 (NAVSTAR GPS Control Segment to User […]

L3Harris Technologies announced the successful completion of the all-stock merger between Harris Corporation and L3 Technologies on June 29. Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, L3Harris becomes the sixth largest defense company in the U.S., and a top 10 defense company worldwide, with approximately $17 billion in revenue and 50,000 employees, including 20,000 engineers and scientists. [Photo: The Harris-supplied navigation payload before integration into the second GPS III SV. (Photo: Harris)] Both companies have long been dominant […]