GPS Satellite – A Quick Read

The US military forces launched the first GPS satellite in 1978. More than thirty other satellites have been launched ever since for military, aviation and individual usage worldwide. The very existence of the Global Positioning System has in fact claimed the life of more than one GPS satellite, lost during the launch or on the orbit. Some orbiting devices expired, others required replacements for technical purposes, but what matters most is how the technology is applied in the performance of daily tasks. The decoding of the satellite signal is done by a GPS device or receiver that provides the exact geographical location according to three-dimensional coordinates.

Presently, almost any GPS satellite phone includes a form of navigation with different mapping support and applications. The GPS seems to have become an integrated part of people’s life, but one has to wonder what will happen in a couple of years when the now orbiting satellites will have to be replaced. For the moment, there are management and funding issues that seem to act against the proper reconditioning of the GPS applications. The US Air Force maintains the entire GPS satellite structure, the economic difficulties put a lot of stress on the managers who lack funds to invest in reconditioning.

The average user will hardly notice if any of the 31 orbiting satellites will fail, because normally, four satellites at time on the sky are enough to provide adequate information. Sometimes information may get redundant as the same GPS receiver can get simultaneous data from six or eight satellites, which is more than necessary. In the absence of GPS satellite real-time positioning, consumers would have to start using maps all over again. The military, maritime and transportation systems would be the most affected without GPS satellite reconditioning.

The European states are preparing the launch of an independent satellite navigation system in 2010 that would be an alternative to the American GPS satellite applications that are now most popular. Besides the USA, other countries that have GPS satellite dominance are Russia, China and India, that operate their own Global Positioning systems. No matter how things are sorted out in terms of policy, implementation and administration at the global level, the average user will not be affected by the different modifications in the way the GPS satellite communication works. In fact, the number of GPS users will get higher because of people’s attempt to improve the efficiency of navigation.