IISGEO Projects
IISGEO's First Project: Lunar Laser Ranging
There is currently no Lunar Laser Ranging system in the southern hemisphere, and the international LLR network is very small as well. We now have an opportunity to install an LLR system here in South Africa - first it will be located at HartRAO, but later on it will be relocated to the IISGEO site. This will be the first major projects managed by the IISGEO.
From the project proposal document:
It is proposed that the 1 metre CNES SLR system currently operated by OCA be moved to South Africa for conversion to an SLR/Lunar Laser Ranging System. This new LLR will after successful conversion and refurbishment, be moved from HartRAO (located at Hartebeesthoek) to a suitable new location in South Africa, where eventually, it will be supplemented with collocated space geodesy systems (GPS, SLR2000, VLBI2010, DORIS) to form a node of the proposed IAG Global Geodetic Observing System, termed the International Institute for Space Geodesy and Earth Observation (IISGEO). There is no LLR capability in the southern Hemisphere at present, and the addition of this system to the very small international network of systems capable of LLR will enhance science and open avenues of collaboration with OCA.
To download the whole proposal, click here.
International GNSS Service (IGS)
Even though the LLR is the first project of the IISGEO, installing the GPS systems is also part of phase 1. Here you can find out about IGS.
What is IGS?
The following paragraph is taken from the IGS website:
The International GNSS Service (IGS), formerly the International GPS Service, is a volentary federation of more that 200 worldwide agencies that pool resources and permanent GPS & GLONASS station data to generate precise GPS & GLONASS products. The IGS is committed to providing the highest quality data and products as the standard for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) in support of Earth science research, multidisciplinary applications and education. Currently the IGS includes two GNSS - GPS and the Russian GLONASS and intents to incorporate future GNSS. You can think of the IGS as the highest-precision international civilian GPS community.
The IGS network is currently made up of 350 permanent geodetic GNSS stations operated by more than 100 worldwide agencies.
What is GNSS?
GNSS stands for Global Navigation Satellite System. Currently operating GNSS's are GPS (U.S.A.'s Global Positioning System) and GLONASS (Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System). Another GNSS planned for the future is Europe's Galileo.