Archives for 2015

If you’ve ever wondered what the weather was like in space, well now you can find out. Earlier this month, a new space weather forecasting system called FLARECAST was launched from the UK. FLARECAST is designed to help monitor solar flares and other space weather disturbances and warn users of potential problems for satellite signals ahead of time.

Last year alone, solar flares knocked out GPS signals and degraded accuracy several times. And, as the New Science article points out, such blackouts can be potential life threatening as more and more vital technologies rely on GPS. read more

Galileo Launch 2014 Photo by European Pressphoto Agency

In an effort to offset the launch setbacks in 2014, the European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that they will be launching three pairs of satellites into orbit in 2015, essentially doubling the current constellation. Official dates and timelines for the launches are expected to be announced sometime next week. read more

According to an article published by GPS World, the ESA is telling consumers to expect interruption to Galileo’s navigation signals during the last week of January and all of February while the Galileo Ground Mission makes some improvements. The interruption is expected to last about five weeks, and during that time the accuracy of the navigation information received from the satellites will slowly degrade and may even be replaced by dummy message during some stages of the upgrade. Consumers can check the status of the satellites here. read more