Oldest GPS Satellite To Be Retired
Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2016 5:33 pm
The oldest currently operational GPS satellite is being retired from service next month. The Air Force has indicated that SVN-23, presently signaling as PRN-32, will be taken out of service after over 25-years in operation. The design life of the satellite was only seven years. The Air Force, taxpayers, and global users, got an extra 18-years of service from the GPS-IIA-10 spacecraft. It was launched in late November of 1990. (Heck--it is older than my classic Boston Whaler boat, a 1992 model.)
The phasing out of SVN-23 will occur following the launch of the last in the series of 12 GPS IIF satellites, GPS IIF-12; that launch is scheduled for February 3, 2016, or about seven days from now.
See:
http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/space/#IIF
http://www.ulalaunch.com/atlas-v-to-lau ... GPS+IIF-12
http://gpsworld.com/last-block-iif-to-r ... satellite/
for more details. A great way to keep track of all GNSS satellites in service is from The Almanac, at http://gpsworld.com/the-almanac/
The phasing out of SVN-23 will occur following the launch of the last in the series of 12 GPS IIF satellites, GPS IIF-12; that launch is scheduled for February 3, 2016, or about seven days from now.
See:
http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps/space/#IIF
http://www.ulalaunch.com/atlas-v-to-lau ... GPS+IIF-12
http://gpsworld.com/last-block-iif-to-r ... satellite/
for more details. A great way to keep track of all GNSS satellites in service is from The Almanac, at http://gpsworld.com/the-almanac/