GPS System May Be Lost In 2010!

[Plays In The Dirt]

Mismanagement and underinvestment by the U.S. Air Force could possibly lead to the failure and blackout of the Global Positioning System (GPS)

The failure would impact not only military operations, but also the millions of people and businesses who rely on the satellite-based navigation systems built into cars, boats and cell phones.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520636,00.html

[Space Cowboy]

Wasn't the GPS system originally run by the U.S. Navy? And wasn't it supposed to suffer some long-standing damage because of Y2K? Perhaps they can print off a couple billion dollars and cover its replacement.

[reptilist]

Interesting. All of our mining equipment use GPS....I told them not to put all their eggs in one basket!

[Plays In The Dirt]

Interesting. All of our mining equipment use GPS....I told them not to put all their eggs in one basket!

So Does Mine! In fact they just installed a new GPS system in the equipment that records location - load counts - etc. Oh what to do now (wringing hands)?

[reptilist]

Well, I can still give line, pull chain, and pound hub!

[Plays In The Dirt]

Well, I can still give line, pull chain, and pound hub!

And I can still look at the onboard computer in the equipment and give them location - load count - outside temperature - brake temperatures - turbo boost pressure - etc. - etc. over the radio. All the stuff that they spent big bucks on installing this new GPS system for.

[Iggy1]

I would have to believe this statement, since I never believe what the government has to say.

MrUmbra says:
Tue May 19 18:47:14 PDT 2009

The GAO report actually warns the system might fall below 24 satellites sometime around 2015. That assumes Lockheed Martin will miss its first GPS-III delivery by two years. They also cited Boeing as being delinquent in delivery of its GPS-IIF satellites.

There are currently 30 usable satellites. There is one brand new one in orbit with technical issues. There are also several orbital spares.

There is one GPS-IIR awaiting launch during August and the first Boeing GPS IIF satellite has finally arrived at the cape for launch late this year.

So replenishments have been maintaining parity with decommissionings. Barring launch failures or extreme solar activity, it's highly unlikely there will be 'wholesale' failures during the next year to bring the entire system down in 2010.

The article is overly alarmist.

--- CHAS

[Plays In The Dirt]

I would have to believe this statement, since I never believe what the government has to say.

MrUmbra says:
Tue May 19 18:47:14 PDT 2009

The GAO report actually warns the system might fall below 24 satellites sometime around 2015. That assumes Lockheed Martin will miss its first GPS-III delivery by two years. They also cited Boeing as being delinquent in delivery of its GPS-IIF satellites.

There are currently 30 usable satellites. There is one brand new one in orbit with technical issues. There are also several orbital spares.

There is one GPS-IIR awaiting launch during August and the first Boeing GPS IIF satellite has finally arrived at the cape for launch late this year.

So replenishments have been maintaining parity with decommissionings. Barring launch failures or extreme solar activity, it's highly unlikely there will be 'wholesale' failures during the next year to bring the entire system down in 2010.

The article is overly alarmist.

--- CHAS

I hope he's correct.

[Space Cowboy]

Remember Skylab? Before Soyuz, before the International Space Station, there was Skylab, the first space station, 100 tons of all-American grit and genius. Launched in 1973, although its potential was enormous, it only got visited three times. The space program had fallen out of favor.

President Carter decided that America could not afford such a luxury, when inflation was at more than ten percent, the economy was grinding to a halt under his watch, and unemployment was crawling in the double-digits. So when the Skylab's orbit began to fail, instead of finding the money to send a crew up with the necessary goods to refuel it and correct its orbit, he wrote it off the books. Although it cost millions to put it into space, it would cost millions to maintain it, there were higher priorities.

Skylab crashed into the atmosphere July 11 1979, fell apart, and scattered itself all over Australia. The lawsuits against the United States ran into the millions. One fine wasn't paid until 1989 by a radio talk-show host.

We are now entering the second term of Jimmy Carter.

[reptilist]

I have high hopes for the future.