'We've bought the wrong satellites': UK tech gamble baffles experts

Re:'We've bought the wrong satellites': UK tech gamble baffl... by h2odragon on Friday June 26, 2020 @01:21PM (#23654445)

So the "trick" to location satellite systems is super accurate and stable atomic clocks. Each satellite basically pings a timestamp out and you derive your location from the difference in when you receive which ping from several satellites.

So the issue would be "how much more expensive is it going to be to equip these satellites with those clocks?" There might well be enough other uses for accurate clocks on these to make upgrading whatever they do have worth it. They might not be that expensive anymore.

Apologies for any misunderstandings im suffering here.

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Re:'We've bought the wrong satellites': UK tech gamble baffl... by Junk_Collector on Friday June 26, 2020 @01:31PM (#23654564)

These satellites are likely too small to support a proper positioning system. They would need the radio transmitters, power system, and clocks all redesigned at which point you have an entirely new satellite.

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Re:'We've bought the wrong satellites': UK tech gamble baffl... by Dylan16807 on Monday June 29, 2020 @09:40AM (#23677453)

> power system

I see different size estimates for these satellites but none of them suggest it would be hard for them to spend 10 watts on an atomic clock and 50 watts on a constant transmission. Am I forgetting something?

> radio transmitter

You can't just slap on a significantly simpler antenna?

> clocks

I have no idea here.

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Re:'We've bought the wrong satellites': UK tech gamble baffl... by rjsw on Friday June 26, 2020 @01:27PM (#23654518)

How do you add an atomic clock to a satellite that is already in orbit ?

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Re:'We've bought the wrong satellites': UK tech gamble baffl... by wojciii on Friday June 26, 2020 @01:54PM (#23654898)

By upgrading the firmware of course. This is clearly a problem for the software dept to solve.

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Re:'We've bought the wrong satellites': UK tech gamble baffl... by a3n on Friday June 26, 2020 @02:07PM (#23655058)

> By upgrading the firmware ...

... to include atomic operations.

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Re:'We've bought the wrong satellites': UK tech gamble baffl... by econcon on Monday June 29, 2020 @07:05AM (#23676394)

Isn't this what Google's Spanner does?

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