Logo
  Sunday, October 13, 2024
Sign-In  |  Sign-Up  |  Contact Us  | Bookmark |  RSS Feed

GPS Satellites in Block I segment  
Block I Satellite
Block I Satellite
GPS satellites are divided into blocks. Each block is a list of satellites that usually launched within certain time interval and hence block division. There are 4 different blocks. Below is the detailed information of each block for your reference.

Block I GPS Satellites were launched from 1978 to 1985 from Californian base Vandenberg AFB. Atlas rocket was used as a delivery vehicle into the orbit. Block I is also referred as the original set up designed and developed by Rockwell. All of the satellites in the Block I were orbiting in a circular 10,9000 nm orbits. There was 12 hours period with the 63 degrees of an inclination angle. Each of the satellites within Block I contained cesium and rubidium atomic clocks. Life expectancy of each GPS satellite within Block I was five years, however each of them performed better and longer time spans.

History of Block I GPS Satellites



SVN# Launched Usable Status Failure
1. 02/28/1978 03/29/1978 Not in service Onboard frequency standard failure in 06/17/1985
2. 05/13/1978 07/14/1978 Not in service Signal (L1) power permanently turned off in 02/12/2988
3. 10/06/1978 11/13/1978 Not in service Terminated on 05/18/1992
4. 12/10/1978 01/08/1979 Not in service Disabled on 05/01/1990
5. 02/09/1980 02/27/1980 Not in service Turned off on 05/11/1984
6. 04/26/1980 05/16/1980 Not in service Termined on 03/06/1991
7. 06/14/1983 06/14/1983 Not in service Failed to launch on 06/14/1983
8. 07/14/1983 08/10/1983 Not in service Set unusable on 05/04/1993
9. 06/13/1984 07/19/1984 Not in service Unusable due to end of life, was put into higher orbit on 06/20/1994
10. 09/08/1984 10/03/1984 Not in service Unusable due to end of life, was put into higher orbit on 03/26/1996
11. 10/09/1985 10/30/1985 Not in service Unusable due to navigation payload shutdown. It was put into higher orbit on 04/14/1994
Print GPS Satellites in Block I segment Bookmark GPS Satellites in Block I segment

Related Articles  
Google Nexus One Questions and Answers
Google Nexus One is a brand new GPS enabled smartphone and Google is trying to gain market share of GPS enabled ...
Global Positioning System's main blocks.
Article about Global Positioning System (GPS)
GPS system is vulnerable to the solar activity
Solar activity has direct impact on GPS system and National Weather Service has concerns about it by issues a warning ...
More