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GPS May Be Less Accurate in 2010
Gizmodo ^ | 15 May, 2009 | Gizmodo

Posted on 05/15/2009 8:58:55 AM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins

 

Due to maintenance issues of our current GPS satellites, geodesist Mike Craymer and his team at Natural Resources Canada have calculated that the accuracy of global positioning systems could start dropping by 2010.

According to a report released by the Government Accountability Office in April, the Air Force ran into problems with being able to build GPS satellites under budget and on schedule. For example, three years late from its original launch date, the next GPS satellite will be launched into orbit in November 2009.

With the hardware currently being used in space, the replacing and maintaining of satellites is crucial, especially since the current hardware we're using has been in orbit for almost two decades. If maintenance is not kept up, then GPS accuracy will begin to drop more and more each year.

 

The GAO has calculated - using reliability curves for each operational satellite - that the probability of keeping a 24-satellite constellation in orbit drops below 95 percent in 2010, and could drop as low as 80 percent in 2011 and 2012. And if the Air Force doesn't meet its goals for the next-generation GPS III satellites, the probability drops to around 10 percent in 2017.

 

Not to worry though, the GAO has come up with a few solutions—one of them involving international cooperation—suggesting that the U.S. work with the European Union on their proposed navigation satellite system, Galileo, expected to launch in 2013. [Tidbits via Slashdot - image from GPSmagazine]


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: 2010census; gps; nasa; satellite; space

1 posted on 05/15/2009 8:58:55 AM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

bttt


2 posted on 05/15/2009 9:02:55 AM PDT by ConservativeMan55
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Well, I guess us guys will have to get lost the old fashion way again.


3 posted on 05/15/2009 9:02:56 AM PDT by BGHater (It's easy to be a Conservative now.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

4 posted on 05/15/2009 9:03:13 AM PDT by Califreak (Stammer Lee, TOTUS and Beltway Bob have turned 1600 into a circus)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

what happens if the earth’s axis shift?


5 posted on 05/15/2009 9:05:33 AM PDT by Perdogg (0bama - America's Elegabalus and Commodus combined)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Yawn..... Doom and gloom.


6 posted on 05/15/2009 9:06:25 AM PDT by r9etb
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To: Perdogg

You had to ax...


7 posted on 05/15/2009 9:06:50 AM PDT by null and void (We are now in day 116 of our national holiday from reality.)
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To: Perdogg
what happens if the earth’s axis shift?


Software change...:^)

8 posted on 05/15/2009 9:07:06 AM PDT by az_gila (AZ - need less democrats - one Governor down... more to go.)
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To: Perdogg

It will be a software correction to re-calibrate the satellites.


9 posted on 05/15/2009 9:07:07 AM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Three words: Where’s the target?


10 posted on 05/15/2009 9:07:08 AM PDT by devane617 (Republicans first strategy should be taking over the MSM. Without it we are doomed.)
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To: BGHater

We just bought a Tom Tom for an upcoming extended driving tour across the country....amazing stuff tucked inside.


11 posted on 05/15/2009 9:12:47 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (Impeach now!)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
Geodesists and the military have the most to lose from this eventuality. The odds of affecting your car navigation is nil.

Geodesists need to determine position to 2mm. Trucks and airplanes don't.

12 posted on 05/15/2009 9:14:17 AM PDT by Publius6961 (Change is not a plan; Hope is not a strategy.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Too bad they still don’t use hydrogen maser atomic clocks. The Naval Research Lab proposed this in the mid 1970s but TIMATION 5 (NTS-3) was canceled by the Air Force.


13 posted on 05/15/2009 9:25:31 AM PDT by Richard from IL
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
GPS May Be Less Accurate in 2010

Obama's fault!

14 posted on 05/15/2009 9:33:15 AM PDT by Lou L
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To: BGHater

15 posted on 05/15/2009 10:07:06 AM PDT by GATOR NAVY
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To: BGHater

But the gubment won’t be able to track you if you don’t turn your GPS machine.


16 posted on 05/15/2009 10:13:33 AM PDT by Vaduz
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

The Soviet’s GLONASS constellation went into disrepair after the fall on their empire. I think they have some parts of it up and running now but GPS and GLONASS are good indicators of relative global strength.


17 posted on 05/15/2009 2:05:12 PM PDT by Sawdring
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To: Sawdring

Good observation. GPS can be traced back to my father’s program, TIMATION, which he started in 1964.


18 posted on 05/16/2009 4:09:03 AM PDT by Richard from IL
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