$500m navigation system

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33654, 2 October 1974, Page 11

$500m navigation system

(N.Z. Press Assn—Copyright) | LOS ANGELES. A SUSSOOm navigational system using satellite-borne atomic: clocks was being developed to provide position information accurate to within 15ft at the touch of a button, said a iUnited States Air Force' spokesman. Colonel Bradford Parkin-( son said that the system,; Navstar, would permit pre|cise weapon aiming and revolutionise space, air, land, and sea navigation, air-traffic control, photographic mapping, geodetic surveys, aerial refuelling, and search and I i rescue missions. ( Colonel Parkinson said 'Navstar plans called for 24 (satellites to orbit Earth 10,000 miles in space by 1984 Ito provide instant, computercalculated position informa-; I tion. The satellites would be (positioned so that there 'were eight each in three I different orbital planes. i Thrdk of the satellites

(were being manufactured by [the Rockwell International [Corporation’s space division, [the colonel said, under a (SUS42.Bm military contract. Atomic clocks aboard each [satellite would keep track of ;the space craft’s course [around Earth and time signals [would be broadcast by the [satellite. A user who wishes to establish his position would tune his receiving equipment [to the time signals and use la computer to calculate the [transmission time of the [signals and their range and [direction. The receiver’s equipment would use this information to calculate his exact position. In the case of aircraft, said Colonel Parkinson, a series

of such calculations would be made to indicate altitude, direction, and speed. Colonel Parkinson said the Navstar system would be available for commercial use to any country, but in times of war, its exclusive use for the United States could be ensured by encoding the satellites. “Sun” aria. — Graeme (Wall, aged 30, of Victoria, won the $5OOO first prize in the “Sun” atia contest in the Sydney Town Hall on Saturday night. The second prize, of $5OO, was won by Patrick Power, aged 27, of Auckland, and the $3OO third prize by Miss Wendy Vergo, aged 28, of Sydney.