Satellite Status / Space Weather Update 12 January 2012, GPS Week 1670

SATELLITE STATUS

31 healthy GPS Satellites: (GPS/UTC offset is currently 15 seconds. This will be increased to 16 seconds at the end of June 2012)

Mission planning is strongly encouraged for your GPS operations as even with 31 satellites there remain some periods of high DOP and reduced availability in some regions when using an elevation mask of 10 degrees or higher. You can have high DOP even with 6 satellites if the geometry is poor.

I have attached the latest max World DOP plot for tomorrow 13th January. This with 5° elevation mask.

http://www.skyfix.com/artikkel.aspx?AId=76&back=1&MId1=79 (GeoskyII, Fugro planning software)
http://www.trimble.com/planningsoftware_ts.asp (Free Trimble GPS/GLONASS planning software)
ftp://ftp.trimble.com/pub/eph/almanac.alm (Latest combined GPS/GLONASS Almanac)
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=currentAlmanac&format=yuma (YUMA GPS only Almanac)

Note: Always download and use the latest almanac for mission planning. Otherwise you must explicitly set satellites unhealthy/healthy as necessary to evaluate your specific constellation scenario. Always verify age of downloaded Almanac to be sure it is current.

GPS Launch Update: (15 Dec 11)

GPS 2F-3 satellite is scheduled for launch September 2012

USA GPS Interference Testing: (26 December 2011)
DOD GPS interference testing is ongoing at/near the following locations:
El Segundo, CA; Rancho Bernardo, CA; Cape Canaveral, FL; White Sands Missile Range, NM; Fort Irwin, CA;

Specific times/dates are listed at: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/gps/gpsnotices/GPS_Interference.pdf

UK GPS Jamming: (12 January 2012)
RAF SCULTHORPE AIRFIELD, EAST ANGLIA, FEBRUARY 2012
Dates: Between 6 and 10 February 2012 inclusive.
Times: between 0700 and 1700 GMT.
Location of SINGLE jammer: Land based within 2km of 52° 50′ 54″ N, 0° 45′ 38″ E.
Frequency: A 20 MHz band centred around 1575.42MHz (GPS L1).
Total Power: Up to 0.1 Watts EIRP (100mW).

RAF SPADEADAM, CUMBRIA, MARCH 2012
Dates: Between the 5th of March to the 9th of March 2012 inclusive.
Times: 0800 -1800 GMT.
Location of MULTIPLE jammers: based within 5km of N55° 04.000’ W002° 34.000’.
Frequency: A 24 MHz band centred around 1575.42MHz (GPS L1).
Total Power: Up to 10 Watts EIRP.

STANFORD TRAINING AREA, EAST ANGLIA, 26th MARCH 2011
Dates: Between 26th and 30th March 2012 inclusive.
Times: 0800 - 1700 GMT.
Location of MULTIPLE jammers: Land based within 5km of N52° 29.0’ E000° 45.0’.
Frequency: A 24 MHz band centred around 1575.42MHz (GPS L1).
Total Power: Up to 10 Watts EIRP.

CONUS WAAS GEO Satellite Status: (18 March 2011)
WAAS PRN's 133, 135 and 138 are currently operational. 

"Iono Robustness" Upgrade to Increase WAAS Reliability
During the fall of 2011, the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) began a series of upgrades to increase its reliability. One of these upgrades, known as ‘Iono Robustness’, will increase the availability of the WAAS LPV service during the upcoming solar maximum.  

For further information see the following link:
http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/
techops/navservices/gnss/waas/news/

GLONASS Status: (12 January 2012)
24 (of 31) Satellites healthy
GLONASS 727: slot/plane/RF-chnl 3/1/- Maintenance
GLONASS 726: slot/plane/RF-chnl 22/3/- Maintenance
GLONASS 722: slot/plane/RF-chnl 14/2/- Spare
GLONASS 712: slot/plane/RF-chnl 7/1/- Spare
GLONASS 714: slot/plane/RF-chnl 17/3/- Spare
GLONASS 701: slot/plane/RF-chnl 21/3/- Flight Tests
GLONASS 743: slot/plane/RF-chnl 2/1/-4 Commissioning

GLONASS Update: (5 January 2012)
19.12.11
According to GLONASS System control center- a planned commissioning into constellation of Glonass-M satellite №746 (orbital slot №17) will begin at 01:00 (MT) 20.12.2011. The Glonass-M SC №714 will be transferred into orbital reserve.

08.12.11
The GLONASS constellation has reached the number of 24 operating spacecrafts, providing 100% coverage of the Earth's surface.

05.05.2011
Glonass-K1 #701 launched on 26 February 2011 began transmitting navigational signal in L1, L2 and L3 on 7 April 2011.

GLONASS Launch Update: (28 November 2011)
GLONASS-K1 No. 12 launch due 2012.

EGNOS/Galileo Update: (5 January 2012)
Brussels, 30 November 2011 – The European Commission has proposed today the new framework for the financing and governance of the two European satellite navigation programmes Galileo and EGNOS (GPS signal augmentation) for the period 2014-2020.

More Information:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemlongdetail.cfm?item_id=5142&lang=en&tpa=141&displayType
=news&ref=newsbytheme%2Ecfm%3Flang%3Den%26displayType%3Dnews%26fosubtype%3D%26tpa%3D14
1%26tpa%5Fid%3D141%26period%3Dlatest%26month%3D%26page%3D1

GALILEO Launch Update: (12 January 2012)
A single launch of two IOV satellites scheduled for August 2012

COMPASS (Beidou) Update: (5 January 2012)
On 27 December 2011 the official start of operational position, navigation and timing to China, with the COMPASS/Beidou system was announced. The main service area is currently 84° - 160° East and 55°South – 55°North. Horizontal positioning accuracy up to 25 metres. This is expected to improve to 10m by the end of 2012.
In addition the release of an Interface Control Document (Test Version) was announced.
The document can be downloaded here: http://www.beidou.gov.cn/attach/2011/12/27/201112273f3be6124f7d4c7bac428a36cc1d1363.pdf

COMPASS (Beidou) Launch Update: (5 January 2012)
Six satellites are scheduled to be launched in 2012.

The tenth satellite of the Chinese COMPASS system was launched 1st December 2011.
This is the fifth IGSO (Inclined Geosynchronous orbit) satellite of the system and completes the construction of the basic regional service covering China. An Asia/Pacific regional service is expected to be completed within the coming two years, and global service by 2020

SPACE WEATHER UPDATE
The sun today:

"Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams."

Kp index: Maximum value of previous four, 3-hourly planetary index measurements of geomagnetic activity
Ap Index: A measure of the general level of geomagnetic activity over the globe for a given (UT) day.
IMF: Interplanetary Magnetic Field: When the interplanetary magnetic field turns south compared to the Earth's magnetic field, geomagnetic activity will increase. As the Bz (Southward pointed) value becomes more negative, the associated geomagnetic activity increases.

Solar Cycle Update: (3 January 2012)
The Solar Cycle 24 Prediction Panel has agreed that the solar minimum occurred in December 2008.
The predicted solar maximum (Cycle 24) is now expected to occur in May 2013.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/