In a series of small ceremonies, the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday shut down Loran-C, a navigation and timing system that has guided mariners and aviators since World War II.
The death blow came last May when President Obama called the system obsolete, saying it is no longer needed in an age in which Global Positioning System devices are nearly ubiquitous in cars, planes and boats.
Killing Loran-C will save the government $190 million over five years, Obama said. But supporters of Loran -- including the man known as "the father of GPS" -- say the nation's increasing reliance on GPS paradoxically has increased the importance of maintaining Loran as a backup.
At 3 p.m. Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard turned off Loran signals at 19 of the 24 Loran stations. Signals remain at five stations because of agreements with Russia and Canada, but the Coast Guard expects those stations to be decommissioned by June after the United States receives verification that those countries have been notified of the change.
The five stations that temporarily remain on line are at Attu, in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, and Caribou, Maine; Nantucket, Massachusetts; Shoal Cove, Alaska; and George, Washington.
- from CNN/Reuters
Clint Bradford, K6LCS
In our aging fleet of GPS Satellites, which are on the brink of dying, and no replacements in sight, wonder what will happen then?? Everyone dont throw away your compass and paper maps. $190 mill is a small price to pay for something that will work, compared to what other $$ the govt throws away on toilet seats, etc.
John W6ZKH
----- Original Message ----- From: "Clint BRADFORD" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 3:36:58 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [amsat-bb] Good Night, Loran
In a series of small ceremonies, the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday shut down Loran-C, a navigation and timing system that has guided mariners and aviators since World War II.
The death blow came last May when President Obama called the system obsolete, saying it is no longer needed in an age in which Global Positioning System devices are nearly ubiquitous in cars, planes and boats.
Killing Loran-C will save the government $190 million over five years, Obama said. But supporters of Loran -- including the man known as "the father of GPS" -- say the nation's increasing reliance on GPS paradoxically has increased the importance of maintaining Loran as a backup.
At 3 p.m. Monday, the U.S. Coast Guard turned off Loran signals at 19 of the 24 Loran stations. Signals remain at five stations because of agreements with Russia and Canada, but the Coast Guard expects those stations to be decommissioned by June after the United States receives verification that those countries have been notified of the change.
The five stations that temporarily remain on line are at Attu, in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, and Caribou, Maine; Nantucket, Massachusetts; Shoal Cove, Alaska; and George, Washington.
- from CNN/Reuters
Clint Bradford, K6LCS
_______________________________________________ Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
Does the US government NOT have any plans to launch any more GPS satellites?
Does the existing array of satellites in orbit have any which are not in active use, i.e. reserved for future use as backups? As I recall, each satellite has two different atomic standards on board, one is on and the other is off (or is it 3 independent standards, one rubidium and two of something else?). So, how many spare atomic standards on functional satellites do we have to keep the aging fleet going?
What is the cost of a GPS satellite launch vs. the cost savings of killing off Loran-C?
Sorry if your comments triggered more questions than answers from me...
73 de W0JT
On Feb 9 2010, [email protected] wrote:
In our aging fleet of GPS Satellites, which are on the brink of dying, and no replacements in sight, wonder what will happen then?? ... John W6ZKH
----- Original Message ----- From: "Clint BRADFORD" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 3:36:58 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [amsat-bb] Good Night, Loran
In a series of small ceremonies, the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday shut down Loran-C, a navigation and timing system that has guided mariners and aviators since World War II.
...
Clint Bradford, K6LCS
On Tue, 2010-02-09 at 09:52 -0600, [email protected] wrote:
Does the US government NOT have any plans to launch any more GPS satellites?
Nope.
Keep cheering on the Iranians and their space-flight programme. They'll be the only game in town ten years from now, if things keep on like this.
You might even get a HEO launch out of them.
Gordon MM0YEQ
I do not know the exact answer, but the Iridium satellites (constellation of 256?) each were supposed to cost $5M/each. But any of you who actually have used Loran-C, know that is a far cry from the accuracy or reliability (due to LF propagation) as GPS.
Ed PS: I used to install them, but you could not repair them as mfr's would not release proprietary info. But then these days no one bothers to repair electronics (putting us component level tech's out to pasture - moo!).
At 06:52 AM 2/9/2010, [email protected] wrote:
Does the US government NOT have any plans to launch any more GPS satellites?
Does the existing array of satellites in orbit have any which are not in active use, i.e. reserved for future use as backups? As I recall, each satellite has two different atomic standards on board, one is on and the other is off (or is it 3 independent standards, one rubidium and two of something else?). So, how many spare atomic standards on functional satellites do we have to keep the aging fleet going?
What is the cost of a GPS satellite launch vs. the cost savings of killing off Loran-C?
Sorry if your comments triggered more questions than answers from me...
73 de W0JT
On Feb 9 2010, [email protected] wrote:
In our aging fleet of GPS Satellites, which are on the brink of dying, and no replacements in sight, wonder what will happen then?? ... John W6ZKH
----- Original Message ----- From: "Clint BRADFORD" [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 3:36:58 AM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: [amsat-bb] Good Night, Loran
In a series of small ceremonies, the U.S. Coast Guard on Monday shut down Loran-C, a navigation and timing system that has guided mariners and aviators since World War II.
...
Clint Bradford, K6LCS
Sent via [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
73, Ed - KL7UW, WD2XSH/45 ====================================== BP40IQ 500 KHz - 10-GHz www.kl7uw.com 500-KHz/CW, 144-MHz EME, 1296-MHz EME DUBUS Magazine USA Rep [email protected] ======================================
On 2010-02-09 10:52 , [email protected] wrote:
Does the US government NOT have any plans to launch any more GPS satellites?
There will be more but of somewhat different design with better capabilities for terrestrial use. (Although potentially worse signals *above* the constellation, which is a concern for GPS receivers on HEO missions. I recall a presentation at the 2004 AMSAT Symposium on this. I'm not if this has changed.)
The last of the Block IIR-M satellites (8) were added to the constellation between 2005 and 2009. Those launched on Delta II vehicles.
There will be twelve follow-on satellites, known as the Block IIF series, and the first is planned to launch this year. They are being developed by Boeing and will launch on the Delta IV.
After that series, there will be more designated Block III with more advanced capabilities, although a contractor won't be selected until next year for these.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS_satellite and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS_modernization for good introductions.
73, -Daniel, VA3KKZ
participants (6)
-
Clint BRADFORD -
Daniel Kekez -
Edward Cole -
Gordon JC Pearce -
tosca005＠umn.edu -
w6zkh＠comcast.net