GPS could fail next year

[silenus]

Link

C'mon, Air Force! Get your act together. I'm lost without the GPS on my phone.

[Zuul]

Whoa. Convenience factors aside, this could be a problem as far as security and safety goes, too.

[sublight]

Hmm, I may just put off buying that Garmin, then.

[Tripler]

I really don't think the Air Force is going to let the GPS system fail. Too much of our targeting systems depend on it. With their cutbacks on the F-22/F-35, and a whole slew of other rollbacks in things (CSAR-X, the new KC-X, etc.), money ought to free up enough that they can keep 'er going.

Tripler
Except my paycheck. That's not a cut we can all live with.

[Tuckerfan]

Shit. We could be forced to ask for directions.

[Clayton_e]

Is GPS completely set on the government system of satellites? I always assumed there were a few companies using different systems.

[dynamitedave]

There is a proposed EU system (Galileo), that seems to still be some time away. The Russians seem to almost have their system fully operational again, but the stated precision seems low at 75m.

[Papaw]

Sell it to Google! They could run it.

[Martini Enfield]

As I see it, the story says that the GPS system would fail to "provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to", not stop working entirely.

Of course, this sort of thing is exactly why I still keep a road map in my glovebox anyway.

[Guizmeaux]

As I see it, the story says that the GPS system would fail to "provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to", not stop working entirely.

Of course, this sort of thing is exactly why I still keep a road map in my glovebox anyway.

Indeed. There's also an "if" at the beginning of that sentence. And an "increased likelihood" in the middle of it.

Good reporting might have involved finding out the expected lifespan of the satellites already up there, their current age, whether there are certain areas that may be more affected by the loss of a single satellite - like maybe the mid-Pacific - and exactly what "level of GPS service" might be expected in the event that they do start failing.

But that would be work.

[McNutty]

I emailed my Dad, who works in the Air Force GPS program office at LAAFB (as a civilian), and his opinion is that this is way overblown. It's a lot of "what if" stated in a way that makes the outcomes sound likely when they're not.

[TV time]

This news will be rough on my niece. When I was explaining about GPS bouncing signals from the earth to a satellite, apparently I somehow did not explain how it was then bounced back to earth where the operator is located or she wasn't listening when I did explain that. She is convinced there are a number of operators living on the GPS satellite with long telescopes keeping track of people in order to alert emergency personnel.

[silenus]

Everybody wave to the nice sky-people!