Fast Running Blog

The U.S. Air Force may not be able to acquire new satellites in time to prevent disruption in GPS service for military and civilian users.

By K.C. Jones,  InformationWeek
May 20, 2009
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217600329


The global positioning system could fail next year and repairs aren't moving quickly enough to prevent failure, according a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

It's unclear whether the U.S. Air Force will be able to acquire new satellites in time to prevent disruption in GPS service for military and civilian users, according to the report.

The GAO said that the Air Force has struggled in recent years to stay within cost and scheduling constraints while building GPS satellites. So far, one satellite program has incurred cost overruns of $870 million and the launch of its first satellite has been pushed back three years to November 2009.

"Of particular concern is leadership for GPS acquisition, as GAO and other studies have found the lack of a single point of authority for space programs and frequent turnover in program managers have hampered requirements setting, funding stability, and resource allocation," the report states. "If the Air Force does not meet its schedule goals for development of GPS IIIA satellites, there will be an increased likelihood that in 2010, as old satellites begin to fail, the overall GPS constellation will fall below the number of satellites required to provide the level of GPS service that the U.S. government commits to."

That could have wide-ranging implications on all GPS users, although the Air Force and others can make contingency plans, the GAO report said.

The Air Force also has had problems synchronizing the next generation of GPS satellites with the ground control and user equipment, which hinders military GPS satellite capabilities, GAO concluded.

The U.S. Department of Defense and others have taken prudent steps to manage requirements and coordinate among the many organizations involved with GPS so civilians can have access, according to GAO. However, there are still several challenges in meeting civilian requirements and ensuring GPS compatibility with new, potentially competing global space-based positioning, navigation, and timing systems, according to the report.

One of my running buddies works in the GPS Office at SPACECOM.. I'll see what she says....

I'll lump this one with Y2K virus. Not gonna happen.

I'm with Paul, no chance that this will happen. A huge proportion of the people in our country own some form of GPS. If the government allows the system to fail there would be a huge number of very upset citizens that would have to look at a map for driving directions. No change that Obama would get re-elected if GPS failed on his watch. Also, GPS is a very vital part of our military technology which no government would not allow to fail.

Not that it would happen, but I'd say it is much more likely that some crazy dictator decides to shoot down all of our satelites.

I agree with Paul.  There would be a lot of money lost in a lot of different areas than just for the Forerunner.  I really can't see this being neglected.

Here's what my GPS contact says... (Unclassified Version):

"The GPS stuff does have issues like everything else, but overall it should be ok with minimal possibility for the potential outages mentioned"

So... I'm not losing any sleep over it... (But then, I don't run with a Garmin... ; )

Could you see us all, "I don't know where I am going?  How far was that?  How do I go running?  How fast was that run?  Who am I?"
Sorry- I just got a bit of a giggle.... ;)

Even if the satellites did fail, I imagine Google would just launch their own satellites that better, faster, cheaper, easier to maintain, and easier to use than the old government ones. The only downside is all the Google Ads scrolling across your GPS.

"I missed my turn around, but did you know that you can whiten your teeth using this moms free secret?"

Thankfully, it won't be Myspace launching the new satellites.

Facebook satellites---"Oops... I forgot to pause my Garmin... but did you know that Riverton Paul is stoked because his son just got an A in Chemistry?"