WAAS Sat status change

INTELSAT(PanAmSat), Galaxy-15, W133 deg, PRN -135 (48)
PRN-135 will be put back into "Test Mode" for 7 days from 4/16 to 4/23 to test retrofitting of ranging loop code carrier coherency changes developed during PRN-138 testing. Non-aviation users with test mode with corrections capability should not be impacted. Aviation users will automatically revert to using PRN-122. Since PRN-122 is fairly low elevation in NE CONUS, aviation users will have degraded availability in the NE for those days. For real, legal, information, see the official NOTAMS.
PRN-135 was taken out of "Test Mode" and placed in normal mode at 08:00 UTC on 11/9.
PRN-135 will operate for about the first 6 to 9 months as a data link of correction and integrity information only. That is, the UDRE will be set to "not monitored". This will result in it being displayed with a "hollow bar" on some receiver displays.
The ranging control loop for PRN-135 will be running, but the WAAS ground system will not provide UDREs smaller than Not Monitored until the FAA's verification of the integrity analyses for the ranging function have been completed as part of the PRN-138 testing. (Data link only operation allowed the PRN-135 deployment to be accelerated to compensate for the loss of PRN-122 in the North East)

New Alabama CORS stations

TWELVE NEW STATIONS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO THE NATIONAL CORS NETWORK
Coordinate information, log files, and RINEX2 data is now available for the following National CORS sites.
AL40 (Alexander City, AL) AL60 (Montgomery, AL) AL90 (Mobile, AL) JCT1 (Junction, TX) MCD5 (Mac Dill AFB, FL) MCD6 (Mac Dill AFB, FL) NBR5 (New Bern, NC) NBR6 (New Bern, NC) NJCM (Middle Township, NJ) NJTP (Piscatasway, NJ) NVPO (Las Vegas, NV) PUR5 (Isabella, PR)

New USFS testing of GPS receivers under canopy

AT

http://www.fs.fed.us/database/gps/receivers/acc05_12.htm

Very cool unofficial ArcPAD blog

at

http://arcpadteam.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html

USGS Defines Roles for New Satellite Mission

Technical Announcement
March 29, 2007
Denver Makle
703-648-4732
dmakle@usgs.gov


Scientists and engineers from the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA are moving forward in planning a successor to the Landsat 7 satellite mission. With the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) satellite expected to launch in 2011, the two agencies have announced their roles and responsibilities in mission development, subsystems procurement, and on-orbit operations.

NASA and USGS share responsibility for the LDCM. NASA will procure and/or develop the space segment, consisting of the satellite, instrument, and launch services and will also perform on-orbit satellite checkout. The USGS will develop and implement the ground segment, consisting of the ground receiving station network, a satellite operations facility, and archive and image processing facilities. After launch and check-out, NASA will transfer the satellite to the USGS to perform flight operations, image-data capture and archiving, and product dissemination.

The USGS will use NASA procurement services to acquire mission operations software for commanding the satellite and instrument, thus ensuring compatibility with NASA’s space segment procurement. The USGS will competitively procure ground segment resources, including the primary ground receiving station at the USGS EROS Center near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as well as supplemental capabilities to ensure comprehensive and timely global data acquisition. The data-collection planning capability will be modeled after the successful Landsat 7 Long-Term Acquisition Plan to collect global land image data and will be developed through the USGS EROS Technical Support Services Contract. The mission operations facility will be configured at the USGS EROS Center through commercial facility modification contracts. The flight operations team will also be procured competitively, similar to the approach employed for the Landsat 5 and 7 missions.

Data archive and user portal capabilities will be procured competitively, while image processing functionality will be developed through the USGS EROS Technical Support Services Contract. Independent ground systems architecture analysis and integration will be led by the USGS and supported by Federally-Funded Research and Development Center resources. Finally, overall system integration into the existing USGS infrastructure will be ensured through the USGS EROS Technical Support Services Contract.

Further details regarding the USGS LDCM acquisition strategy can be found at http://ldcm.usgs.gov/.