Sats10 : GPS in the Future.... Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Granitic Intrusions: With the 20th anniversary fast approaching it is time to archive this series of caches.
Glad lots of people got to enjoy them.

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Hidden : 3/19/2010
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

About the Sats series ....
We recommend starting this 10 cache series at Sats1 : Timation. That way you can find 10 caches on the way down the hill and then enjoy the leisurely walk back up to Rossland. An alternative would be to arrange for a ride from here at cache #10 (at the old abandoned golf course entrance) up the highway back to Rossland. Please do not attempt to drive along the route as it is closed to motorized vehicles. Some sections of this old road are very rough and the lower end is blocked with concrete barriers. Parking coordinates are provided for the upper end of the trail. You could also park here at cache #10. As with all trails around Rossland watch out for mountain bikes and bears !
Allow up to 3 hours for the whole series.
I really enjoyed learning about the history and workings of the GPS satellites and hope you find the write-ups interesting

About this cache ....
This micro wraps up the Sats series. We hope you enjoyed celebrating the tenth anniversary of geocaching by finding ten easy geocaches. We also hope you enjoyed learning a little of the history of the satellites that make it all possible.

GPS in future ...

 Because of the huge costs involved GPS technology is slow to improve just now. But improvement is inevitable and we will see drastic changes in years to come. Your GPS today is accurate to about 3 metres. In the future that might change to 3 centimetres. Just think how much easier geocaching would be ! In the not so far off future we might have a tiny nanochip implanted under our skin that could lead us right to any geocache. No more need to carry that bulky receiver. Nobody would ever get lost again because they would be trackable 24/7. Driving a car might be completely safe if the onboard GPS could warn of any obstacle on the road ahead and initiate action to avoid problems. As a matter of fact GPS might become so accurate that you won't need to drive at all. Just sit back like “The Jetsons” and let the GPS do the driving. There is no doubt that the GPS system is set to play an even bigger part in our daily lives.

A note about "WAAS"....The Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) was developed for the aviation industry in the United States. Satellite data is received by ground stations and corrections are made to compensate for small errors in time and ephemeris (location) data. These small errors are due mainly to ionospheric conditions which are constantly changing and affect all radio transmissions. The corrections are then sent to satellites in a geostationary orbit above the equator. These WAAS satellites then rebroadcast the upgraded signal back down to Earth.
There are two reasons that WAAS doesn't help us geocachers in the Kootenays.
   1) The WAAS satellites above the equator are low on the horizon from our location and are usually blocked by trees, buildings, mountains etc.
   2) The nearest ground station to us is in Auburn, Washington - over 500 km. away. The corrections made by that station would not be relevant to the ionospheric conditions over our area.

Therefore even though most gps's are WAAS capable we should make sure that, here in the Kootenays at least, this feature is turned off as it will use up a lot of battery power and possibly result in degraded signals. Perhaps in the future with additional satellites and ground stations we will be able to make use of WAAS for Kootenay geocaching.

This image from Wikipedia is in the public domain

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Sbyybj gur fvtaf

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

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