1 Hardness: cubic zirconia has a rating of approximately 8 on Mohs hardness scale vs. a rating of 10 for diamond. 2  Specific gravity: the density of cubic zirconia is about 1.7 times that of diamond. 3  Refractive index: cubic zirconia has a refractive index of 2.15â2.18, compared to a diamond's 2.42.he synthesized material is hard, optically flawless and usually colorless, but may be made in a variety of different colors. It should not be confused with zircon, which is a zirconium silicate (ZrSiO 4).
When GPS service was first made available for civilians in 1983, for national security reasons, the U.S. military decided to scramble the signal, making it a little too inaccurate to be reliable. This practice, also known as selective availability, was aimed at preventing military use of GPS by the enemies.
GPS development and launch. Once the decision had been made to develop GPS, a colossal amount of development was required. The development of GPS included a launch programme of 10 satellites known as Block I satellites. This started in 1978, although the initial launch suffered a failure and the satellite was lost. This launch programme lasted until 1985, when on 9th October the last Block I satellite was launched.