U.S. Agencies Publish 2008 Federal Radionavigation Plan

A 2008 version of the Federal Radionavigation Plan (FRP) has been published by the U.S. government, providing the latest documentation of the policy and plans for radionavigation systems used for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) applications.

GNSS Providers Working Group to Discuss Compatibility, Interoperability

The International Committee on GNSS (ICG) working group on compatibility and interoperability will meet March 2 and 3 at “der Residenz” in Munich, Germany.

The meeting, which takes place immediately before the Munich Satellite Navigation Summit 2009, follows on the most recent gathering of the full ICG and Providers Forum in Pasadena, California, last month. (Presentations from that meeting can be found here.) The Munich discussions will focus on compatibility and interoperability issues and system/service characteristics, such as current and planned signals, system time and geodetic reference frame standards, performance standards and actual system performance, service provision policies, and deployment and operation timetables.

Gates Backs Lynn for Key Defense Post

(Updated Jan.26) President Barack Obama's nomination of William J. Lynn III, a senior vice-president at Raytheon Corporation, for deputy secretary of defense and his granting Lynn a waiver from the new administration's own rules on former lobbyists has provoked considerable criticism from some quarters.

As the number two official in the Department of Defense (DoD), Lynn would report directly to Robert Gates, the current secretary of defense who has continued in that position in the new administration, the only holdover from ex-President Bush's cabinet. Gates has come out strongly in support of Lynn, saying that he requested the waiver from the president.

Among other responsibilities, the deputy secretary serves as the co-chair of
the Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Executive
Committee (ExCom). Lynn would succeed Gordon England, who has paid a lot of attention to GPS during his term in office and enhanced the role of the PNT ExCom as an arbiter and advocate for the GPS program throughout the federal government.

China Aerospace Official Says Compass/Beidou Will Be Complete by 2015

An official with China's main space program contractor told China Central Television (CCTV) on January 18 that the country will complete a 30+ satellite Compass (Beidou) constellation by 2015.

Juliana Blackwell To Direct National Geodetic Survey, Oversee Spatial Reference System

Juliana P. Blackwell has taken up responsibilities as the new director of the National Geodetic Survey (NGS), where she will oversee the nation’s spatial reference system.

Blackwell takes up the post after serving for the past three years as chief of the NGS Observation and Analysis Division. She is the first woman to head the nation’s oldest federal science agency, established by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807 as the Survey of the Coast.

Russia Launches Three More GLONASS-M Space Vehicles

The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) successfully launched a Proton-M rocket and three GLONASS-M satellites at 10:53 a.m. (GMT) on December 25 from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan.

The spacecraft were placed into orbital plane 1 on the GLONASS constellation, where they will occupy slots 2, 3, and 8, according to the Roscosmos Information-Analytical Center.

International System Providers Meeting (ICG-3) Reflects GNSS’s Competing Interests, Cooperative Objectives

Representatives from the world’s GNSS system and augmentation providers spent a sun-laden week in Pasadena, California, recently, advancing aspirations for their separate enterprises while refining the basis for compatibility and interoperability among them.

European Space Agency Names Günter Hein to Galileo Post

The European Space Agency (ESA) has appointed Prof. Dr. Günter Hein to serve as Head of Galileo Operations and Evolution with duties in Noordwijk, Netherlands, and Paris, France.

With an initial four-year term beginning December 1, Hein will report directly to René Oosterlinck, ESA’s director of the Galileo program and navigation-related activities (D/GAL).

China to Launch 10 Compass Satellites over Next Two years

(updated 12/8/08) China plans to launch 10 Compass satellites during the next two years in order to create a regional positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) capability in the Asia-Pacific region by 2010.

GLONASS Constellation Grows to 17 as Latest Satellites Come On-line

The latest trio of modernized GLONASS satellites (GLONASS-M) have begun transmitting healthy navigation messages, bringing the total of operational satellites to 17 — a milestone for the Russian GNSS constellation.

The third GLONASS-M space vehicle (SV) — SVN 726 launched September 25 began transmitting a healthy navigation message on November 13, giving the rebuilt GLONASS constellation the highest number in more than a decade. GLONASS SVN 110 (724) began transmitting on October 26, and SVN 111 (725), on November 5, according to the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) GLONASS Information-Analytical Center.