AlaskaAV
GONE WEST
Mission, TX
Since most of us know how a GPS works and how important it is to aviation and even cars now days and for those in remote areas, this might be interesting to some.
Following is a link to a great NASA web site (our tax money at work) that shows every satellite orbiting the earth, it's orbit and location relative to other satellites at any given second. Java has to be enabled.
Something to do on a rainy day or when there is too much smoke to fly and there are no honey dos.
Once you enter the site, if all works right and after it loads up, you will see the world with a whole bunch of white dots. You will be looking for J Tack 3D just in case it goes to the home page.
Once the image comes up, you will notice all white dots move from time to time as the world turns. No ladies, that is not a TV soap program.
Now comes the fun part. Left click and hold and you can move the earth around in 3D. This can give an idea of altitude. By clicking on any white dot, it will give you the satellite name and show you the orbit. Note all the satellites around the equator. Most, if no all, of the GPS satellites are the furthest out.
Also, by using the tool bar at the top, you can locate any satellite by name, change the time interval and resize of the screen. Also available is the exact location at the exact time you view it.
Strange how our government can make a software program like this work almost perfect but can't get voting machines or income tax software to work.
Also available on this site is the location of the ISS at any given second and will show it's movement. When the shuttles were operating, you could watch the image as it lifted off and went into orbit to reach the SST. I watched MIRR fall out of the sky.
http://science.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/3D/JTrack3D.html
Following is a link to a great NASA web site (our tax money at work) that shows every satellite orbiting the earth, it's orbit and location relative to other satellites at any given second. Java has to be enabled.
Something to do on a rainy day or when there is too much smoke to fly and there are no honey dos.
Once you enter the site, if all works right and after it loads up, you will see the world with a whole bunch of white dots. You will be looking for J Tack 3D just in case it goes to the home page.
Once the image comes up, you will notice all white dots move from time to time as the world turns. No ladies, that is not a TV soap program.
Now comes the fun part. Left click and hold and you can move the earth around in 3D. This can give an idea of altitude. By clicking on any white dot, it will give you the satellite name and show you the orbit. Note all the satellites around the equator. Most, if no all, of the GPS satellites are the furthest out.
Also, by using the tool bar at the top, you can locate any satellite by name, change the time interval and resize of the screen. Also available is the exact location at the exact time you view it.
Strange how our government can make a software program like this work almost perfect but can't get voting machines or income tax software to work.
Also available on this site is the location of the ISS at any given second and will show it's movement. When the shuttles were operating, you could watch the image as it lifted off and went into orbit to reach the SST. I watched MIRR fall out of the sky.
http://science.nasa.gov/RealTime/JTrack/3D/JTrack3D.html