View source for Timation

{{Use American English|date=November 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
[[File:Managers for the Timation program.jpg|thumb|The [[Naval Research Laboratory]]’s managers for the Timation program and, later, the GPS program: [[Roger L. Easton]] (left) and [[Al Bartholomew]].]]
[[File:Timation I (rectangular object in center of photo).jpg|thumb|Timation 1 (rectangular object in center of photo), launched May 31, 1967, tested in a "piggyback" launch aboard an Air Force Thor-Agena D rocket]]
The '''Timation [[satellite]]s''' were conceived, developed, and launched by the [[United States Naval Research Laboratory]] in [[Washington, D.C.]] beginning in 1964. The concept of Timation was to broadcast an accurate time reference for use as a ranging signal to receivers on the ground. 

On 31 May 1967, the Timation 1 satellite was launched.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Timation 1, 2 |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/timation.htm |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Timation |url=http://www.astronautix.com/t/timation.html |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=www.astronautix.com}}</ref> This was followed by the Timation 2 (NRL-PL 169) satellite launch in 1969.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> 

In 1973 the U.S. Navy Timation and the Air Force System 621B navigation system (known as the DNSS - Defense Navigation Satellite System) are consolidated by the Deputy Secretary of Defense.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2010-02-13 |title=GPS Timeline |url=http://support.radioshack.com/support_tutorials/gps/gps_tmline.htm |access-date=2024-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100213100725/http://support.radioshack.com/support_tutorials/gps/gps_tmline.htm |archive-date=13 February 2010 }}</ref> 
[[File:Navigation Technology Satellite – II.jpg|thumb|Navigation Technology Satellite 2 (Timation 4)]]
Two more advanced Timation satellites are launched.<ref name=":2" /> NTS-1 - Navigation Technology Satellite (Timation 3) is launched in 1974,<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=NTS 1 (P73-3) |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nts-1.htm |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref> while NTS-2 (Timation 4) is launched in 1977.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=NTS 2 (P76-4) |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/nts-2.htm |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref>

The results of this program and Air Force Project 621B formed the basis for the [[Global Positioning System]] (GPS). The Navy's contribution to the GPS program continued to be focused on ever more accurate clocks.<ref>{{cite web|author=R.L. Beard|author2=J. Murray|author3=J.D. White|name-list-style=amp|date=1986|title=GPS Clock Technology and the Navy PTTI programs at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory|pages=39, 40 |url=http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/ptti/1986/Vol%2018_03.pdf|access-date=2009-02-01|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606212707/http://tycho.usno.navy.mil/ptti/1986/Vol%2018_03.pdf |archive-date=6 June 2011}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

== History ==
There is a historical connection between accurate time keeping, navigation, and the [[United States Navy|Navy]]. In 1714, the [[Government of the United Kingdom|British government]] passed the ''[[Longitude Act]]'' (see [[longitude prize]]) to create an incentive to solve the problem of navigation at sea. The solution, developed by [[John Harrison]], was an accurate clock which could compare local time to [[Greenwich]], England time. To this day, [[Coordinated Universal Time]] (UTC), the successor of [[Greenwich Mean Time]] (GMT), is the reference time for the planet, and in the [[United States]], the official time for the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] (DoD) is kept by the [[United States Navy]] at the [[United States Naval Observatory|U.S. Naval Observatory]] in Washington, D.C. This is kept in [[synchronization]] with the official civilian time reference maintained by [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] (NIST) and contributes to the [[International Atomic Time]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=NIST Time|journal=NIST |date=3 February 2010 |url=https://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/utcnist.cfm#usno|access-date=10 June 2013}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

== Satellites ==
{| class="wikitable"
!Satellite
!Launch
!Launch Pad
!Launcher
!NSSDC ID
!
|-
|Timation 1
|31 May 1967
|[[SLC-2W|SLC 2W]]
|[[Thor-Agena|Thor-DM21 Agena-D]]<ref name=":0" />
|1967-053E<ref name=":1" />
|with [[Poppy (satellite)|Poppy]] 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D; [[Calsphere]] 3, 4; NRL-PL 150B and OPS 5712
|-
|Timation 2
|30 September 1969
|[[SLC 1W]]
|[[Thorad-Agena|Thorad-SLV2G Agena-D]]<ref name=":0" />
|1969-082B<ref name=":1" />
|with Poppy 6A, 6B, 6C, 6D; Tempsat 2; SOICAL Cone, Cylinder; Weston; NRL-PL 176
|-
|NTS-1 (Timation 3) 
|14 July 1974
|[[SLC-3W|SLC 3W]]
|[[Atlas E/F#Atlas E/F-PTS|Atlas F PTS]]<ref name=":3" />
|1974-054A<ref name=":3" />
|
|-
|NTS-2 (Timation 4)
|23 June 1977
|[[SLC-3W|SLC 3W]]
|[[Atlas E/F#Atlas E/F-SGS|Atlas F SGS-1]]<ref name=":4" />
|1977-053A<ref name=":4" />
|
|}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Spaceflight}}
* [[Time signal]]
* [[Global Positioning System]] (GPS)

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://ncst-www.nrl.navy.mil/NCSTOrigin/Timation.html#Timation Timation Satellite Program (navy.mil)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080630161749/http://ncst-www.nrl.navy.mil/NCSTOrigin/Timation.html#Timation |date=30 June 2008 }}
* [http://www.thespacereview.com/article/626/1 Who invented the Global Positioning System? (thespacereview.com)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160126030117/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/524988.pdf Range navigation using the Timation II satellite]

{{Satellite navigation systems}}

[[Category:Navigation satellite constellations]]
[[Category:Satellites orbiting Earth]]
[[Category:Satellite navigation]]
[[Category:1964 introductions]]


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