Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Satellites Archives

2018 – PNT Satellites Breakdown – Snapshot

Of the 146 PNT satellites in Earth orbit during 2018, 101 were operational, up 11% from 2017’s total of 91 operational PNT satellites. The U.S. maintained the highest share of…

2018 – PNT Satellites Mission Segment Breakdown – Snapshot

Like PNT deployments in previous years, the majority of the 27 PNT satellites deployed in 2018, 81% (21) were for military missions. Four satellites (15% of the total) were deployed for . . .

2018 – Infrastructure: Space Infrastructure

Space infrastructure, like its terrestrial counterpart, is an invisible backbone for services used by people all over the world. Like terrestrial infrastructure, space infrastructure is increasingly relied upon for convenience, services, and . . .

2017 – PNT Ground Networks – Snapshot

During 2017, the United States Air Force still conducted operations with decades-old ground equipment. The ground network consisted of 11 command and control antennas and a total of…

2017 – GPS – Snapshot

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) managed 31 operational GPS satellites during 2017, seven more than the minimum 24 GPS satellites required for effective operations. Even though the U.S. number of . . .

2017 – GLONASS – Snapshot

Russia’s share of operational PNT satellites increased from 21% in 2016 to 26% in 2017. Operating the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), the nation was tied with . . .

2017 – QZSS – Snapshot

After seven years of single-satellite operations for the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), Japan’s PNT constellation, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched . . .

2017 – Navigation with Indian Constellation – Snapshot

India completed the first part of a two-phase plan during 2016, fielding a constellation of seven Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) PNT satellites. The constellation was . . .

2017 – Galileo – Snapshot

Europe’s expansion of its Galileo PNT constellation slowed a little during 2017, when nine clocks aboard some of the satellites failed. Clocks are critical to . . .

2017 – BeiDou – Snapshot

In 2017, China continued expanding its BeiDou constellation, the nation’s space-based PNT system. Launching two BeiDou satellites, the nation’s share increased to . . .