satellite—¹ A celestial body orbiting another of larger size; a secondary planet. ² A man-made object or vehicle intended to orbit the Earth, the Moon, or another celestial body and usually instrumented for the transmission of space data (such as lunar probes). ³ An auxiliary airfield of limited facilities serving as a dispersal point for a main air base and as a base of operations if the main field is put out of action.

satellite configuration [GPS]—The state of a satellite constellation at a specific time relative to a specific user or a set of users.

satellite constellation [GPS]—The arrangement in space of a set of satellites of a system such as the GPS system.

satellite geodesy—Geodetic surveying in which satellites orbiting the Earth are used as objects of positional reference; satellite surveying.

satellite health—The part of the satellite’s data message that informs a user of any problems that a satellite may be having that could affect the accuracy of its transmitted data. Satellites are susceptible to a number of failures, especially clock errors.

satellite surveying—See surveying, satellite.

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Source: NSPS “Definitions of Surveying and Related Terms“, used with permission.

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