Gps Satellite Orbit Speed

If they were higher their antenna gain could be more the beam is narrower and still covers the earth and besides.

Gps satellite orbit speed.

Relative to the earth gps satellites orbit twice in a sidereal day the length of time the stars instead of the sun take to return to the original position in the sky. This equation holds for any orbiting object where the attraction is the force of gravity whether it s a human made satellite orbiting the earth or the earth orbiting the sun. View pre launch news release 1. Gps block iiia is the first series of third generation gps satellites incorporating new signals and broadcasting at higher power levels.

The gps satellites are at roughly half geo height 20 000km vs 40 000km. The fourth gps iii satellite is scheduled to launch on friday october 2. Since a sidereal day is about 4 minutes shorter than a solar day a gps satellite orbits once every 11 hours and 58 minutes. The global positioning system gps originally navstar gps is a satellite based radionavigation system owned by the united states government and operated by the united states space force.

In september 2016 the air force awarded lockheed martin a contract option for two more block iiia satellites setting the total number of gps iiia satellites to ten. View pre launch news release 2. View pre launch news release 3. The space force successfully launched the third gps iii satellite into orbit.

The speed can t vary as long as the satellite has a constant orbital radius that is as long as it s going around in circles. The transmitted power requirement really isn t an issue. The launch window opens at 9 43 p m.