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The GPS project was started by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1973. The first prototype spacecraft was launched in 1978 and the full constellation of 24 satellites became operational in 1993.
Oct 25, 2023 · GPS was invented in the 1960s as a U.S. military project called NAVSTAR, but it became operational in the 1970s and civilian accessible in the 1980s. Learn about the key figures, concepts, and challenges behind the creation of GPS, the satellite-based navigation system.
- A Child of The Space Race
- Advancing GPS Innovation
- Forging The Path Forward
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- Proliferation and Wider Adoption of GPS
- The New GPS
In 1957, Russia launched Sputnik, the first satellite to successfully orbit the Earth. As Sputnik orbited the planet, the satellite emitted a radio signal. A group of scientists in the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) at Johns Hopkins University observed a strange phenomenon: The frequency of radio signals transmitted by Sputnik increased as the sa...
Dr. Ivan Getting, founding President of The Aerospace Corporation, envisioned a more powerful and accurate system, which he saw as “lighthouses in the sky.” In 1963, Aerospace began looking at ways to expand and improve a satellite navigation system. A 1963 Aerospace study, led by Phillip Diamond, recommended a concept called 621-B and with Getting...
In November 1972, Air Force Col. Bradford Parkinson was tasked with overseeing the satellite navigation program. Parkinson led a team in developing a concept that synthesized the best aspects of TRANSIT, Timation, and Project 621-B. This revised system proposal received Defense Department approval in December 1973 for a passive 1-way ranging system...
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan authorized the use of Navstar (or GPS as it became known) by civilian commercial airlines in an attempt to improve navigation and safety for air travel. The authorization to provide free access to GPS data to industries outside the U.S. military became the first step towards authorized civilian usage. By 1989, comme...
As GPS coverage continued to expand to full operational capabilities, so did its reach into the lives of civilians. GPS technology appeared for the first time in a cellphone in 1999 when Benefon released Benefon Esc!, a GPS-equipped phone that would lead the way for more. GPS technology also began to show up in automobiles. In 2000, the government ...
By 2000, it was recognized that the system needed to be modernized to meet rapidly expanding military and civilian applications. A strategy to add new signals to satellites not yet launched was developed, while meeting the full modernized requirements would take a new program, designated GPS III. By 2005, the Block II satellites included five diffe...
Learn the fascinating history and science behind GPS, the technology that changed our lives and navigation.
Oct 27, 2012 · Learn how GPS evolved from satellite navigation experiments in the 1960s to a multi-use, space-based system in 1993. Find out the origins, capabilities, and levels of service of GPS.
Jan 14, 2020 · GPS, or the Global Positioning System, was invented by the U.S. Department of Defense (D.O.D) and Ivan Getting, and cost taxpayers $12 billion. Eighteen satellites—six in each of three orbital planes spaced 120 degrees apart—and their ground stations formed the original GPS.
GPS, space-based radio-navigation system that broadcasts highly accurate navigation pulses to users on or near Earth. In the United States’ Navstar GPS, 24 main satellites in 6 orbits circle Earth every 12 hours.
