The Daily Breeze from Torrance, California • 91

i I Classified Advertising Supplement to The Daily Breeze Sunday Sept 16 1979 I i i i Navstar Global system will provide accurate data for navigation By Richard DoreStaff writer and existing rigs will be able to be located precisely in the dark and in all kinds of weather ships can take advantage on long voyages by steering into currents nad using the flow of the ocean to save fuel and Navstar also will be able to keep ships within certain sea lanes to prevent collisions and with such accurate charting Henderson said it may be possible to nearly eliminate large ships running aground Expected to be fully operational in the mid-1980s Navstar will use 24 satellites which will orbit the Earth twice a day The satellites will beam continuous signals to Earth By using the beams of four of the satellites a person can tell where and how high they are within an accuracy of 33 feet how fast they are going within one-third of a foot per second and the time within a millionth of a second The system is designed to have a minimum of six satellites in view from any spot on Earth at one time but the average will be more like eight or nine While the satellites will be constructed by Rockwell International in Seal Beach Henderson said the project should provide considerable work to subcontractors in the area The Magnavox Research Laboratories in Torrance were awarded a $637 million contract from the Air Force to develop three sets to receive the signals and calculate the position A similar contract also was awarded to an Iowa firm and the Navstar page 6 col 1 Picture this: A small camping party becomes lost in a sudden snowstorm while hiking in rugged wilderness The leader reaches into his pack and takes out a small computer-like object maybe the size of a portable radio or a walkie-talkie By pressing a series of buttons the person determines the exact location Possibly in the same unit will be a distress transmitter which will send the coordinates to a ranger station A search and rescue operation that might normally take days could be accomplished in a few hours because the rescuers will know exactly where to look The possibility of such a rescue remains futuristic but it farfetched Finding the position of those lost people or anything else on Earth will be the job of satellites in orbit more than 12000 miles away The satellites are part of Navstar a global positioning system developed by the US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) and the Aerospace Corp both in El Segundo The system said Col Donald Henderson project commander of Navstar at SAMSO will radically alter navigation throughout the world and should provide substantial savings in fuel use you apply the use of the system to marine use the ability to get back to a precise area is very he said fishing fleets will be able to locate good fishing areas and return to the same spot time and time again On off-shore drilling rigs the sites.