The US military forces launched the first GPS satellite in 1978. More than thirty other satellites have been launched ever since for military, aviation and individual usage worldwide. The very existence of the Global Positioning System has in fact claimed the life of more than one GPS satellite, lost during the launch or on the orbit. Some satellites were taken out of service, others were replaced, but but no effort was spared for making GPS usage top quality. A GPS receiver decodes the signal sent by the satellite and gives the exact location based on latitude, longitude and altitude.
Presently, almost any smartphone includes a form of GPS satellite navigation with different mapping support and applications. People depend more and more on GPS orientation and problems may appear if replacements do not come for the orbiting satellites that will expire in a few years. At present, there are management and funding issues that impair the proper reconditioning of the GPS applications. The US Air Force maintains the entire GPS satellite structure, the economic difficulties put a lot of stress on the managers who lack funds to invest in reconditioning.
At present there are some 31 satellites in service and since only four are necessary to get a fix on the position, the average user will not feel a change if some of the orbiting devices fail to work. There is a certain redundancy in the way information is provided, because sometimes, six up to eight satellites can get connected to a GPS receiver for the same tasks. But in the eventuality of no real time positioning with the GPS satellite structures, we’d have to return to the use of maps all over again. The military, maritime and transportation systems would be the most affected if the satellites are not reconditioned.
In order to offer an alternative to the GPS satellite predominance, European states prepare to launch an independent satellite navigation system in 2010. There are other countries that have individual satellite navigation and here we can count India, China or Russia. No matter how things are sorted out in terms of policy, implementation and administration at the global level, the average user will not be affected by the different modifications in the way the GPS satellite communication works. In fact, the number of GPS users will get higher because of people’s attempt to improve the efficiency of navigation.
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