+Team Ballibeg Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 Interesting read here, IT News report Dave Quote Link to comment
+Learned Gerbil Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 Interesting in what way? There are several spare sats, the system does not fall apart just becasue there are one or two short of the required number for perfect coverage, and it does not take long to get more up there. Whilst there are spares, why should the US pay to bung loads more sats into orbit at great expense that will add nothing but will break down earlier than if launched later? Quote Link to comment
+sTeamTraen Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 (edited) Deleted - while I was composing my rant, LG said it all, in a quarter of the space. Edited September 27, 2005 by sTeamTraen Quote Link to comment
Nediam Posted September 27, 2005 Share Posted September 27, 2005 I think that report needs some kind of confirmation I'm sure if NASA can put something into space, they can repair or replace it (after all, they can get to Mars! I can't see how something that had such a short predicted lifespan would be taken up by so many companies/governments etc. Maybe the author's on the Gallileo project payroll Quote Link to comment
+Team Ballibeg Posted September 28, 2005 Author Share Posted September 28, 2005 Interesting because of the reasons you've all stated! Dave Quote Link to comment
+The Northumbrian Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 Nothing to worry about, Groundspeak are saving up to buy and launch 12 Nige Quote Link to comment
+Learned Gerbil Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 What is more interesting is knowing how many sats are siting in shrink wrap waiting to be launched if required. If there were not nay, I would be more worried. Quote Link to comment
+wildlifewriter Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 What is more interesting is knowing how many sats are siting in shrink wrap waiting to be launched if required. If there were not nay, I would be more worried. That would be eight, less one already launched a couple of days ago. The other seven aren't just lying around, though - they're being upgraded... Source: Lockheed Martin press release -Wlw. Quote Link to comment
Lactodorum Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 I saw this in another forum so it seems Groundspeak are taking the necessary steps to ensure we'll be OK Quote Link to comment
+The Northumbrian Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 I saw this in another forum so it seems Groundspeak are taking the necessary steps to ensure we'll be OK I knew Groundspeak wouln't let us down, just 11 more to launch Nige Quote Link to comment
+stu_and_sarah Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 I can see his point. It may be slightly scaremongering, but if a majority of sats are now past their best before date, they could all fail pretty much simultaneously. Unlikely, yes. Disasterous, probably not. But I can see it could be possible with a large number of failed sats that there would be 'bad coverage' times at certain places. I think he's saying what most of us round here know anyway... don't RELY on the GPS signals. They're fine for most of the time, but if we all lose those map reading and common sense skills, then there's an outage or huge drop in accuracy, it could leave a lot of us floundering. That's my take on the matter, anyhow. Cheers, Stu Quote Link to comment
+wildlifewriter Posted September 28, 2005 Share Posted September 28, 2005 I can see his point. It may be slightly scaremongering, but if a majority of sats are now past their best before date, they could all fail pretty much simultaneously. Unlikely, yes. Disasterous, probably not. You could be killed if all the bricks in your house failed, pretty much simultaneously - but this is statistically improbable. It would be even less probable, if you were able to remotely monitor the condition of every single brick twenty-four hours a day. This hardly practical for bricks - but the GPS Master Control Station DOES do it for satellites. In fact, they've just improved their facilities for doing so... USCG Info page -Wlw. Quote Link to comment
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