Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Accelerated GPS Plan Would Require Up-Front Investment

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2003 08:58:08 -0400

Accelerated GPS Plan Would Require Up-Front Investment

By JEREMY SINGER
Space News Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Accelerating deployment of the Pentagon’s next-generation
of GPS navigation satellites would require a major up-front investment in the
technology that would enable engineers to upgrade the craft while they are in
orbit, according to U.S. Air Force officials overseeing the effort.

On-orbit adaptability via software uploaded from the ground is a key feature of
the planned GPS 3 satellites, which are intended to be far more resistant to
enemy jamming attempts than their predecessors, said Col. Al Ballenger,
GPS system program director at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems
Center in Los Angeles.

Being able to improve satellites via software uploads would enable the Air
Force to take advantage of new technology as it becomes available, rather
than waiting until a new-generation of spacecraft are developed and deployed,
Ballenger said in an interview. The U.S. Defense Department refers to this
developmental philosophy as spiral development.

http://ww.space.com/spacenews/spacenews_summary.html#BM_4

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Get A Free Psychic Reading! Your Online Answer To Life's Important Questions.
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Lj3uPC/Me7FAA/ySSFAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/