The Global Positioning System (GPS)
ABSTRACT
The Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network is operated by the U.S. Air Force to provide highly accurate navigation information to military forces around the world. The network is also being used by a growing number of commercial products.
The GPS space segment consists of into six orbital planes, requiring a minimum of four satellites in each to operate. The GPS control segment consists of five monitoring stations three ground antennas & a Master Control station located at Schriever AFB in Colorado. The NAVSTAR Global Positioning System is managed by the NAVSTAR GPS Joint Program Office at the Space and Missile Systems Center, California.
The idea for a global positioning/navigation system was first proposed in 1940. GPS makes it possible to answer the simple question “Where am I?” almost instantaneously and with breathtaking precision. The new technology utilizes atomic clocks that keep time to within a billionth of a second. They were created by scientists who had no idea that the clocks would someday contribute to a global system of navigation. Today, GPS is saving lives, helping society in many other ways & generating jobs in a new multi-billion-dollar industry. Advances in integrated-circuit technology, technology used to make computer chips soon will lead to GPS receivers and transmitters the size of credit cards, so small and so inexpensive that virtually any vehicle can have one installed and any person can carry one.
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