That’s right, it’s June!
One of the most exciting things to happen over the weekend was the launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon on Saturday. This drew my attention to the skies an I thought we could all do with an introduction/ refresher on the satellite system we use for navigation.
With navigation computers that fit in our pockets, we have been quite accustomed to referring to them all as “GPS.” In reality, that term only refers to the system that tells you where you are. There is still a lot of hardware and software involved beyond that to help you understand what that means. So, for today, we will start with understanding the GPS system itself. Being in the western hemisphere, most of us are using the system as designed by the US government, so we will look at their own explanation of the system at GPS.gov. Be sure to click through on the individual components of the system so that you understand how the space segment (the actual satellites), the control segment (checks and balances from ground control) and the user segment (what you actually see) all work together.
Keep Safe, keep learning
Tanya Weimer