Information on upcoming and past meetings can be found on our Meetings page.
The U.S. Department of the Navy (Navy) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have jointly prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of proposed real estate agreements with the State of Hawai‘i for the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) and the Kōke‘e Park Geophysical Observatory (KPGO). Public involvement is an integral part of the environmental planning process.
On November 26th, at 23:17 UTC, SGSLR at GGAO acquired and tracked its first satellite. This represents a significant milestone towards the deployment of the first operational SGSLR station in late 2025, located in Ny-Ålesund, Norway. The satellite tracked was STARLETTE, a geodetic ball 24 centimeters in diameter, in an eccentric orbit at 812-1114 km.
GGOS releases short film highlighting the Terrestrial Reference Frame 07/29/2024
ACs.
Lockheed Martin receives Laser Retroflector Arrays for GPS III SV9, SV10 07/10/2024
In February 2024, NASA published a set of normal points from the Apache Point Lunar Laser Ranging Station to the NASA Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS) spanning the entire operations of the station, April 2006 through mid-January 2024.
The Navy and NASA are jointly preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the potential impacts of real estate agreements with the State of Hawai'i, Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) for state lands at PMRF and KPGO. The Navy and NASA encourage the public to participate in this environmental review process. The Navy and NASA will be initiating a public scoping period and holding public meetings in early 2024.
NASA Laser Reflecting Instruments to Help Pinpoint Earth Measurements 12/08/2023
The best known use of GPS satellites is to help people know their location whether driving a car, navigating a ship or plane, or trekking across remote territory. Another important, but lesser-known, use is to distribute information to other Earth-viewing satellites to help them pinpoint measurements of our planet.
The National Geodetic Survey posted the results of their May 2023 local tie survey at the NASA Kōkeʻe Park Geophysical Observatory (KPGO). The survey establishes high-precision local tie vectors between the geodetic stations and their associated reference marks.
New employee Glenn Victa has joined the KPGO operations team.
A new MHM-2020 model Sigma-Tau Maser (SN:371) manufactured by Microchip, Inc. was delivered to KPGO. Station operations is monitoring the hydrogen maser stabilization process which typically requires 60 – 90 days to complete. A maser is critical to operations because it maintains stable, accurate time measurements across all connected instrumentation.
As a tracking station for the Mercury and Gemini programs in the early 1960s, the state of Hawaii and NASA have shared historic advancements in space science.
A team from the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) was on-site to provide a re-survey of the KPGO station. The survey was performed to validate a new geodetic measurement technique that provides increased precision.
IVS Holds Technical Operations Workshop at MIT Haystack Observatory 05/16/2023
KPGO operations supported the French National Space Agency for Space Studies (CNES) during installation of new equipment to support 2024 mission objectives proposed for Doppler Orbitography by Radiopositioning Integrated on Satellite (DORIS).
KPGO operations personnel supported the installation of a new Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) station, including a Met4a weather station, replacing the original QZSS station at the site.
"Leaders in Lidar" Video Series 02/03/2023
The 20-Meter antenna celebrated 30 years to the NASA Space Geodesy Project campaign. The system receiver is of NRAO design configured with dual polarization feed using cooled 15 K HEMT amplifiers. The antenna is of the same design and manufactured similarly as those used at Green Bank, WV. and Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. A Mark 5B+ recorder is currently used for all data recording tasks.
NASA Delivers First Flight Hardware to ESA for Lunar Pathfinder 12/02/2022
NASA delivered the first flight hardware for the Lunar Pathfinder mission to ESA (European Space Agency), which formally accepted the instrument on Nov. 4. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, developed the instrument, a laser retroreflector array, which will test new navigation techniques for lunar missions.
The Gimbal with Mass Simulator was removed from the GGAO SGSLR facility in June 2022 and shipped back to Cobham. After the Factory Acceptance Test at Cobham in Lansdale, the Gimbal and Telescope Assembly (GTA) #1 was shipped to GGAO and installed in the SGSLR shelter in late June 2022. Preparations for the Site Acceptance Testing (SAT) were begun shortly after installation.
The Ny-Ålesund SGSLR dome hydraulic pump was successfully replaced in August 2022 by Baader Planetarium as warranty work. The original pump was replaced with one that has a larger motor and does not require a heating element. Continued testing post-installation indicates that this replacement pump is working well.
Shortest day in modern times 08/12/2022
The twelfth session of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) was held August, 3-5 2022 08/02/2022
NASA Mirrors on ESA Pathfinder to Empower Space Geodesy 07/08/2022
NASA will supply the upcoming European Space Agency (ESA) Lunar Pathfinder mission with an array of laser retroreflectors, mirrored devices that reflect light back at its source. The retroreflectors will offer new opportunities for lunar science and space geodesy.
