3 ms·
GPS satellites are indeed at much higher altitudes and thus well protected from (highly speculative) worst-care Kessler syndrome scenarios, which occur in low-E
by jessriedel 7y ago
GPS satellites are indeed at much higher altitudes and thus well protected from (highly speculative) worst-care Kessler syndrome scenarios, which occur in low-Earth orbit (<2,000 km altitude). However, GPS satellites are not in geosynchronous orbit (35,7000 km altitude) but rather operate in a medium Earth orbit of about 20,000 km.
- tialaramex 7y agoIndeed. The GPS birds zip around, a GPS device has to learn (traditionally from GPS itself but downloading from the Internet is much faster if you have Internet and these days most devices can do that) where the birds are in order to turn its relative distance from each satellite into an absolute position on the Earth's surface. If you have an actual GPS app there's typically a diagnostic screen where can see where the satellites are and see them arrive and disappear from your perspective as they orbit.