Launch of GPS IIF-3 on Delta IV Medium Rocket

GPS constellation
Boeing was contracted with options for up to 33 Block-IIF satellites in 1996, but in 2001 the contract was reduced 12 Block-IIF satellites. In July 2006, satellites 10, 11 and 12 were contracted. The first Block-IIF satellite was originally scheduled to launch in 2006, but was finally launched in 2010. 
Delta IV Medium rocket description
Lift off occurred from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral.: A Delta IV Medium rocket in the (4,2) configuration launched today, October 4th 2012 at 12:10 UTC with the GPS IIF-3 spacecraft for the U.S. Air Force.The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket will deploy the Air Force's third Block 2F
Launch of GPS IIF-3 on Delta IV Medium Rocket
navigation satellite for the Global Positioning System. The rocket will fly in the Medium+ (4,2) configuration with two solid rocket boosters. Delayed from Sept. 20. GPS IIF satellite by Boeing: PS -2F (Global Positioning System) or Navstar-2F (Navigation System using Timing And Ranging) satellites are the fourth evolution stage of the second generation of the GPS satellites. Improvements
GPS 2F-3 satellite
included an extended design life of 12 years, faster processors with more memory, and a new civil signal on a third frequency. The GPS-2F satellites do not need to carry an apogee kick motor, in contrast to the earlier generations, as the launch vehicles provide direct insertion into the GPS orbit. Originally the Delta-4M version was to be used for the Delta launches, but a mass growth of the satellites required a switch to the more powerful Delta-4M+(4,2) version. For Atlas launches, the Atlas-5(401) version is used. Source: Orbiter.ch Space News
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FBI moves forward with plans to build $1billion database of Americans' photographs for new facial recognition software


FBI plans to create a database of criminals' faces are well under way. The $1billion scheme will help officials fight crime by matching surveillance photographs with images of known offenders. But privacy advocates have decried the wide-ranging project as 'a national photographic database' which will eventually encompass the innocent as well as criminals. The Next Generation Identification programme has been in the pipeline for several years and is now coming to fruition, according to the New Scientist. The plan involves using several hi-tech identification measures such as DNA analysis, voice recognition and iris scans to help fight crimes. But the centrepiece of the project is facial recognition, a technological breakthrough which the FBI says will be invaluable in solving and preventing crime in the future. The software has two primary uses - one is to allow officials to pick out an individual from a crowd to facilitate surveillance. The other new step is the ability to take a photograph and compare it against a database of faces which would in theory contain all former criminals, like fingerprint databases do today. Source: The Coming Crisis
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