The Air Force tweet session (see link above) put a positive spin on the situation – I wouldn't expect less from an organization responsible for the service – a bias outlook still the same. The facts are that the recent U.S. Government Accountability Office's (GOA) report states that "potential challenges face the GPS system. Air Force GPS experts themselves (within the tweet session) acknowledged and agreed with the GOA statement that "there is potential risk associated with a degradation in GPS performance."
My take on the situation ....... crucial will be ...... keeping the existing orbiting satellites operational and whether the Air Force is able to deliver on the Aug. 09 and Spring 10 launch(s). Keep in mind GOA also stated that "in recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals".
Americans can't even pronounce GPS let alone understand the implication of losing a satellite, as we have now. The media didn't report it, but we lost 1 satellite in March. You don't get all 33 remaining satellites all the time. You get maybe 8 at a time. If 1 of the 8 is the one that's down, now you get only 7. If the one that's down is the one you need for altitude precision, now you have none. The original 34 satellite constellation may not have been ideal, but every down satellite is a big hit.
Your government needs to consider relying on Russia & China to augment GPS. It can't afford to operate 34 satellites for navigation, yet cover all our mortgages.
No.
This is just a failure of the Grauniad (English joke) correspondent to understand the issues.
Read http://www.afspc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123150358 for the real situation.
The message to all UAV enthusiasts is not to give up on GPS just yet; besides there is always Glonass and Galileo in the wings so to speak.
Comments
My take on the situation ....... crucial will be ...... keeping the existing orbiting satellites operational and whether the Air Force is able to deliver on the Aug. 09 and Spring 10 launch(s). Keep in mind GOA also stated that "in recent years, the Air Force has struggled to successfully build GPS satellites within cost and schedule goals".
Your government needs to consider relying on Russia & China to augment GPS. It can't afford to operate 34 satellites for navigation, yet cover all our mortgages.
This is just a failure of the Grauniad (English joke) correspondent to understand the issues.
Read http://www.afspc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123150358 for the real situation.
The message to all UAV enthusiasts is not to give up on GPS just yet; besides there is always Glonass and Galileo in the wings so to speak.