Information On The GPS And The Global Positioning System

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GPS. What is it? To most of us it’s that thing that’s gets you to your lunch meeting on time. After all it’s in just about everything we use every day. But do we know what it actually is? It’s a simple question but do you know the answer.
GPS is an abbreviation for Global Positioning System. It was developed in the 60s to enhance US military warfare by the Department of Defense (DOD), Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), United States Air Force (USAF), Boeing, Rockwell (which has since been bought out by Boeing), Aerospace Corporation (AS Corp.), and Lockheed Martin, but was built only by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Most of the research and development was done at Vandenberg USAF base in Lompoc, California. And the USAF decided to put a Chief Master Sargent (CMSgt) who just so happened to be my grandfather. When I did start this paper I E-mailed him for some information about what he could release to the public and he sent me some links of what is online about the GPS. Considering that this project was headed by the USAF I’m sure that there information that was not released to the public, but what that information is I don’t know.
The GPS constellation is still run by the USAF but more Specifically the Global Positioning System Wing (GPSW). The GPSW is based in Los Angeles, California at the US Space Command.
Currently there are around 30 active and healthy satellites that are still in orbit today. Which is about half as what has actually been launched. The USAF decided to section off each part of the GPS upgrades or modernization.
Today it can cost as little as $8,000 USD to put a satellite into space not including the thousands to build the thing. But each time a satellite fails it means that it blew up on the launch station or it ...

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...urrent location. >20 is as poor as you can get. At this level, measurements are inaccurate by as much as 300 meters with a 6 meter accurate device (50 DOP × 6 meters) and should be discarded.
Now you know how GPS works and the history behind it. One, it was built in the 60s to enhance US warfare. Two, GPS is a constellation of 31 satellites which is about half as much what was actually launched. Three, there are three main parts of the satellite portion. Four, Satellites are useless giant paper weights without a GPS receiver. Five, It runs off of radio waves. Six, It doesn’t work unless you have good DOP. Finally if take away anything from this make it this quote that I have no idea who wrote but it’s something that’s in the back of our minds almost all time. The Quote is “Everything that has ever been made or will be made is completely useless until it is used.”

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