About the GPS Constellation
The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a US-owned satellite navigation system operated by the US Space Force. It consists of at least 31 operational satellites in medium Earth orbit (MEO) at approximately 20,200 km altitude, arranged in 6 orbital planes.
Each GPS satellite completes two orbits per day (orbital period of approximately 11 hours 58 minutes). The constellation is designed so that at least 4 satellites are visible from any point on Earth at any time, enabling three-dimensional positioning and timing.
GPS Generations
The current constellation includes several generations of satellites: Block IIR (launched 1997–2004), Block IIR-M (2005–2009), Block IIF (2010–2016), and the newest Block III/IIIF satellites which offer improved accuracy and new civilian signals (L5, L1C).
Other Navigation Constellations
GPS is one of four global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). The others are Russia's GLONASS, Europe's Galileo, and China's BeiDou. Modern receivers often use signals from multiple systems for improved accuracy.
How to Track
Open the Orbital Radar live tracker and use the Operators panel to filter by GPS. The 31 satellites will appear in their 6 orbital planes at MEO altitude — visibly much higher than LEO constellations like Starlink.