After A Week On Android, Vine Surpasses Instagram On Google Play Charts As Top Social App. After months of speculation, the fate of Waze, the social-mapping-location-data startup, is finally decided: Google is buying the company, giving the search giant a social boost to its already-strong mapping and mobile businesses.
The GPS satellites are not in geo-stationary orbit, but instead orbit twice every time the Earth rotates once. This means that for any observer the satellites appear to orbit once overhead each day.
Briefly, here's how it works: 1  21 GPS satellites and three spare satellites are in orbit at 10,600 miles above the Earth. The satellites are spaced so that from any point on Earth, four satellites will be above the horizon. 2  Each satellite contains a computer, an atomic clock, and a radio.