GPS Failure???
jerry
Posted 5/19/2009 1:29 PM (#81543)
Subject: GPS Failure???


Member

Posts: 2567

Location: Manitowoc, WI
This taken from www.foxnews.com
GPS System Could Fail Next Year, Report Warns
Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Mismanagement and underinvestment by the U.S. Air Force could possibly lead to the failure and blackout of the Global Positioning System (GPS), a federal watchdog agency says.

The risk of failure starts in 2010, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report quoted by PC World.

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.

"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," the GAO report states.

The report says the Air Force has struggled to build successful GPS satellites within cost and on schedule.


Edited by jerry 5/19/2009 1:30 PM
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Sunshine
Posted 5/19/2009 1:59 PM (#81544 - in reply to #81543)
Subject: Re: GPS Failure???



Member

Posts: 2393

Location: Waukesha Wisconsin
It'll never happen! The world/our country depends too much on GPS for this to occur.

My guess is this is a ploy to extract more funding for the Air Force. Sounds like a cry for more financial help during an economic downturn.
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jerry
Posted 5/19/2009 2:12 PM (#81546 - in reply to #81544)
Subject: Re: GPS Failure???


Member

Posts: 2567

Location: Manitowoc, WI
I agree with you Dennis, the public outcry would force the government to pay whatever is necessary to keep it working.
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thumper
Posted 5/19/2009 2:14 PM (#81547 - in reply to #81543)
Subject: Re: GPS Failure???


Member

Posts: 744

The bank bailout has worked so well, I'm sure that we will be paid that money back in time to use it to fix the GPS sysytem.
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RedNeckTech
Posted 5/19/2009 7:02 PM (#81557 - in reply to #81543)
Subject: RE: GPS Failure???



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Posts: 319

Sounds too much like the Y2K scare to me.
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T-Bone
Posted 5/19/2009 9:13 PM (#81560 - in reply to #81543)
Subject: RE: GPS Failure???


The Air Force deems it is a failure when the accuracy is 99.98% or lower. There are 30 sattelites up and 8 have a component with a POSSIBILITY of failure.
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