Quote:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - A Delta 4 rocket has rumbled into the early morning sky from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral carrying a GPS satellite. The rocket lit up the sky at 2:41 a.m. Saturday after two consecutive days of delays for technical and weather issues. The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket will place a navigation satellite into the Global Positioning System constellation for the Air Force. The GPS 2F satellites provide enhanced military signals that have greater accuracy and are more resistant to signal jamming. They also have some civilian applications and a longer life expectancy than the previous generation of satellites.
Hours ago after the usual mandatory weather delays, the Delta IV rocket carrying the second of the Block IIF satellite was launched into space. This is another step on the long roadmap of the GPS Modernisation program. This new satellite will be transmitting the new signals of the modernisation program. Of interest to us will be the new civilian signals L2C and L1C. The 8 satellites in Block IIR-M in orbit are already transmitting L2C but without the required message data yet. Maybe 10 satellites is not enough yet. The critical question for us end users will be:
Q. When can I go around tracking in Malaysia using a handheld that is able to process L1C and L2C simultaneously and giving sub-meter accuracy?
A. 2016!
Ahh... that is still a looong time away.
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