A $5.5 billion upgrade to the Global Positioning System moved a step closer to launch this week when a prototype arrived at a Lockheed Martin complex in Colorado to begin months of tests.
It's the guinea pig for a new generation of GPS satellites, called Block III, that's expected to make military and civilian receivers more accurate, powerful and reliable.
They're also part of an international effort to allow civilian receivers to use signals from U.S., European, Russian and perhaps other satellite navigation systems.
GPS has become ubiquitous in American civilian and military life, with hundreds of thousands of receivers in cars, and weapons systems. Financial systems use GPS receivers to get precise time stamps for transactions, relying on the atomic clocks onboard the satellites.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wi...llite-starts-tests-colo-15142916#.TudEmFaO7oY
It's the guinea pig for a new generation of GPS satellites, called Block III, that's expected to make military and civilian receivers more accurate, powerful and reliable.
They're also part of an international effort to allow civilian receivers to use signals from U.S., European, Russian and perhaps other satellite navigation systems.
GPS has become ubiquitous in American civilian and military life, with hundreds of thousands of receivers in cars, and weapons systems. Financial systems use GPS receivers to get precise time stamps for transactions, relying on the atomic clocks onboard the satellites.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wi...llite-starts-tests-colo-15142916#.TudEmFaO7oY