While Galileo and similar GNSS systems can reach almost everywhere on the world– they arent particularly accurate. A few meters one way or another isnt too big of a deal when youre merely dealing with cell phone navigation apps.
GNSS satellites have difficulty supplying that precision, in large part because they are so far away. Other orbits that bring satellites closer to the ground could permit for more precise pinpointing of receiving gadgets and permit usages in a broader range of applications.
Distances to various orbits can be difficult to understand. The ISS sits around 400 kilometers from Earth, whereas some satellites, such as Starlink, orbit at about 550 km. Typically that is deliberate, as items in those orbits will eventually deteriorate their orbit and burn up in Earths environment. Nevertheless, numerous systems orbit a couple of orders of magnitude greater– such as the Galileo satellites that comprise the backbone of the European Unions satellite navigation network. At an orbit of around 23000 km, it has some advantages over lower-hanging satellites however also plenty of disadvantages too. Now, the EU was to remove a few of those drawbacks by launching a whole new set of lower-orbiting satnav satellites.
Remove All Ads on Universe Today
Join our Patreon for just $3!
Get the ad-free experience for life
With this new effort to get a constellation of enhanced satnav satellites up into orbit, the block, and ESA, its space company, hopes to keep itself at the forefront of this fast-growing field of business area.
UT discusses a potential rival to ESAs strategies– Starlink
Another downside of massive GNSS satellites is their operating frequency. It utilizes the L-band, which is in between 1-2 GHz on the electromagnetic spectrum. Nevertheless, these bands arent useful in some circumstances, for instance, in concrete buildings.
There are plenty of scenarios in the commercial internet of things where a robot would need to know its position inside a concrete building. Having a set of smaller sized satellites with a wider variety of operating frequencies could enable those scenarios to still get precise placing data from a lower-hanging subset of satellites.
Whats more, satellite innovations have actually advanced a great deal recently, and having the facilities of Galileo and other navigational constellations support these brand-new constellations would even further increase their technological benefits. Any new satellites would not have to have bulky and pricey atomic clocks on them, as they can simply receive an accurate timestamp from the geosynchronous satellites orbiting above them, the very same as any other GPS receiver would.
The ISS sits around 400 kilometers from Earth, whereas some satellites, such as Starlink, orbit at about 550 km. Lots of systems orbit a few orders of magnitude higher– such as the Galileo satellites that make up the backbone of the European Unions satellite navigation network. At an orbit of around 23000 km, it has some benefits over lower-hanging satellites however also plenty of drawbacks too. Now, the EU was to eliminate some of those downsides by launching a whole brand-new set of lower-orbiting satnav satellites.
Galileo has actually been a continuous project for a while. And its lastly pertaining to fruition.Credit– ESA YouTube Channel
Removing a few of those redundancies, and making specific devices for particular frequencies and applications, would allow the lower orbiting satellite systems to clock in at only about 1/10th the size of a Galileo, which weighs a hefty 700 kg. As launch costs are a significant constraint for the industrial adoption of a number of these innovations, decreasing a satellites launch weight is among the main objectives of any style group.
Commercial applicability seems to be among the core focal points of the effort to develop these novel systems. The EU is currently a leader in satellite system development and undoubtedly wants to stay so. With this new effort to get a constellation of enhanced satnav satellites up into orbit, the block, and ESA, its space firm, hopes to keep itself at the leading edge of this fast-growing field of business space.
Find out more: ESA– ESA prepares for low-orbiting navigation satellitesUT– Starlink can be Used as a Navigation System tooUT– Monster Black Hole Found Near Earth, Starlink Hacked, Early Life Killed MarsUT– ULA Atlas V Delivers Final GPS IIF Navigation Satellite to Orbit for USAF– Critical to Military/Civilian UsersUT– First Galileo Satellite remains in Orbit
Lead Image: Depiction of a world-covering satellite system.Credit– ESA– Science Office
Like this: Like Loading …