End of Global Positioning System (GPS) in GPS III satellites
On September 18, 2007—as we speak—the President of the United States has accepted the recommendation by the DOD to end “procurement” of the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. Reason given? Because these satellites have the capability to intentionally and purposefully, degrade the accuracy of civil signals.
The president, with this recent decision, feels we now are reflecting to the world a strong commitment to users of the GPS that we are supporting peaceful global civil activities. The degradation capability that is known as the Selective Availability (SA) will no longer be present in all GPS III satellites. This has been a source of uncertainty in GPS performance and to civil GPS users worldwide, which now has been eliminated.
None of this is a new thing, but taking years to pacify global GPS users. In May of 2000 under President Clinton, the United States almost said the very same thing, stopping the intentional degradation of GPS satellite signals, but with President Bush’s recent action and decision-making has resulted in the removal of SA capabilities. In 1996, Al Gore announced the plans to modernize GPS by adding two new civilian signals to enhance the civil and commercial service. According to President Clinton, the “initiative is on-track” with further budget additives to advance modernization by incorporating “some of the new features on up to 18 additional satellites that are already awaiting launch or are in production—taken from the speech of President Clinton on May 1, 2000, at the White House by the Office of the Press Secretary.
The Global Positioning System (GPS) has 24 satellites used for navigation and precise geodetic position measurements. Satellite signals determine daily position estimates recorded by GPS ground receivers. The data is then analyzed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, contracted with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
SpaceRef.com, privately owned by SpaceRef Interactive Inc. out of Virginia and maintaining offices in Vancouver, Canada, lists that all GPS users that are part of the future of GPS—aviation, road, marine and rail navigation, telecommunications, emergency responses, resource exploration, mining and construction, financial transactions, and others. According to the President’s speech, the United States actively promotes “international cooperation in the operation of civil global navigation satellite systems” continuing to work to build international support for the protection of these signals from intentional interference and disruption.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 18th, 2007 at 10:55 am and is filed under Public Relations, Space Agency News, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
