GPS receivers for Earth orbiting satellites are becoming a standard option for navigation purposes. Compared to terrestrial receivers, spaceborne receivers have to cope with a number of specific requirements, such as radiation, relative dynamics, visibility, etc. Most of the currently available spaceborne receivers are adaptations of terrestrial receivers and therefore not optimized for space applications. This paper describes the design of a GPS receiver that is optimized for space applications. The receiver is functionally and hardware-wise embedded into the Attitude and Orbit Control System. Its architecture, hardware, and main technical features such as software correlation, signal search based on a Fast Fourier Transform, and navigation algorithms are discussed. Performance results of real-time tests and analysis results are presented for low Earth orbit and geostationary scenarios. © 2001 Lister Science.