When was the first Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite launched?

The first GPS satellite was a satellite used by the 'NAVSTAR Global Positioning System' (GPS). The first satellite in the system, 'Navstar 1', was launched February 22, 1978. The GPS satellite constellation is operated by the 50th Space Wing of the United States Air Force.

The GPS satellites circle the Earth at an altitude of about 20,000 km (12,427 miles) and complete two full orbits every day.

The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally 'Navstar GPS', is a satellite-based radio-navigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Air Force. It is a global navigation satellite system that provides geo-location and time information to a GPS receiver anywhere on or near the Earth where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.

Obstacles such as mountains and buildings block the relatively weak GPS signals.

The GPS does not require the user to transmit any data, and it operates independently of any telephonic or internet reception, though these technologies can enhance the usefulness of the GPS positioning information. The GPS provides critical positioning capabilities to military, civil, and commercial users around the world. The United States government created the system, maintains it, and makes it freely accessible to anyone with a GPS receiver.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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12 Comments

Wayne Roberts

GPS was a revolution for scuba divers, making wreck location so much easier!

Louella Wilson

Bob Goodall, source?

Jeff Hughes

When I reported aboard my first Navy ship in July of 1973, we had a test system for GPS that we were using. Very crude it looked like a science project and it was provided by Johns Hopkins University. By 1976 we had a more commercial looking unit on my second ship. The original was only based on a single satellite and we could only get a fix about once an hour. The second had a constellation of I believe 8 satellites and could provide 2 dimensional (great for Navy use) position on demand. Looking at articles on the subject this was probably the TRANSIT or Timation system. Apparently these satellites were replaced for the 24 satellite constellation of the current GPS system. I can tell you that even the once an hour fix was a huge improvement over standard celestial navigation in the open ocean, which could only provide two fixes a day after an hours work doing the calculations. There were Loran systems, but they only worked closer in, and there was an OMEGA system that was supposed to be world wide, but we just turned it off because it was unreliable and useless for practical purposes.

Keith Richard Mears

14th of february 1979 is stated on multiple sources.

Naked Kitty Slave

Mark Geragos argued GPS technology was too old to be accurate to get the GPS trackers thrown out in the Scott Peterson murder trial (it was allowed into evidence).