The U.S. Air Force's Global Positioning System program announced the deployment of new GPS satellites to replace the old ones.
In a joke let out by the leaders of Air Forces GPS program, they said that some of their orbiting satellites are already well past their design life. Because of that they are replacing the senior GPS satellites with three new ones. The next satellites will be launched from Cape Canaveral in the next five months.
Out of the 36 GPS satellites circling our planet at approximately 11,000 miles high, 31 are used for active constellation. They provide precision position, navigation and timing information that is used in getting driving directions. Eight out 31 satellites are part of "IIA" batch, the oldest batch. They were launched between 1990 and 1997.
The other 5 satellites are just in "residual" status or kept as back-up, meaning they are just used when needed.
"We've really gotten remarkable performance out of them, but they are aging, and there are some components that simply wear out," said Col. William Cooley, head of the GPS directorate at the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles to USA Today.
The first replacement satellite is planned to be sent off at 8:40 p.m. on Thursday through a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 37.
The liquid-fueled Delta IV, which is 206 feet high, will be launched in its "Medium-plus" configuration. It will be assisted by two ATK solid rocket motors during its first-stage booster. Three-and-a-half hours after its launch, it is expected to release a new IIF-5 GPS satellite, USA Today reported.
The satellite, which weighs 3600 pounds, is the fifth unit in a new generation called "IIF" (Two-F). It is set to replace a 16-year old satellite in Florida which was only designed to last for seven-and-a-half years.
