Here in the United States and around quite a good portion of the world, the US GPS system is the primary method of satellite navigation. However, according to Sputnik News, Russia’s GLONASS system will be declared fully operational by the end of this year and will provide the world with a secondary set of satellites for global satellite navigation. read more

The Air Force Space Command last month dis covered a technical error hidden inside the GPS IIF satellites. Thought to thave existed since 2013, this week it was announced that the error actually originated much earlier than originally thought. Channel News Asia reported that analysis revealed that the issue actually first appeared in 2011, only a year after the launch of the IIF satellites were put into operation. read more

The BeiDou system isn’t global yet, but even in 2012, it covered a good portion of the world, as shown above. And soon, it might cover even more.

Generally speaking, there isn’t usually a whole lot of information about China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System available. I’m not sure if it’s simply because China is a bit more secretive about its system or because there isn’t as much going on with BeiDou. Either way, this week I read on GPS Daily that China has plans to launch three or four satellite in 2015, bringing its constellation up to around 20 satellites. read more

The last week of March has been a really busy one as far as navigational satellite launches go. Nearly all of the major constellations—with the marked exception of Russia’s GLONASS—have either launched or scheduled launches, and they are nearly all making huge steps towards completion or upgrades to the systems.

As you all know, I greatly enjoy writing about the launches of the various navigational satellites be they GPS, Galileo, GLONASS or even regional navigational systems like India’s IRNSS. It’s probably partially because I find anything involving space really interesting and also because it’s kind of exciting to see steps being taken towards a truly global GNSS.

Anyway, rather than spreading it all out, I thought I’d just do a brief overview of the launches: read more

In August of last year, two Galileo satellites were launched and due to a malfunction of the rocket, missed the intended orbit by several thousand miles, leaving the two satellites stranded in incorrect elliptical orbits. This mistake caused quite an uproar and all other Galileo launches for 2014 were cancelled.

At the end of November, one of the two satellites executed a series of maneuvers to move to a more circular, usable orbit and was successful. The satellite is now transmitting usable signals, and the European Space Agency (ESA) has been working towards maneuvering the second wayward satellite to a better, more usable orbit since January 15, 2015. read more

The Indian Space Agency has had some minor setbacks in the deployment of the most recent navigational satellite in the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) constellation. Originally set to launch on Monday, March 9, the satellite was discovered to have a malfunction on March 4 and the launch had to be delayed. As of the time of writing, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said that it was attempting to determine how to best correct the error “with minimum effort” so that launch could be commenced. read more

Arianespace has confirmed that the third and fourth Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites built for the Galileo constellation are “fit” for the launch expected in March. The satellites have been undergoing a series of rigorous tests since the EU announced that the Galileo system would continue forward with three launches.

Early last week, the two satellites made initial contact with the mission’s dual-payload dispenser in French Guiana, and were installed and removed separately during the tests. The dispenser itself will be fully integrated closer to the launch, and will hold one satellite on each side. read more

Last year, a Soyuz rocket launched two Galileo satellites into the wrong orbit due to a a malfunction. In November, one of the two satellites was able to correct its orbit to a lower than initially intended, yet far more usable orbit. This month, the second errant satellite has begun its maneuvers to a more circular and usable orbit. read more

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