What’s Up With “gps Satellites Doomed” News?

Just like any other news story this one has really just one source - and everyone else is just blowing it out of proportion. We thought we’d dig around a bit and see what’s up.

So here are some quotes from Government Accountability Office report (pdf):

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.

Because there are currently 31 operational GPS satellites of various blocks, the near-term probability of maintaining a constellation of at least 24 operational satellites remains well above 95 percent. However, DOD predicts that over the next several years many of the older satellites in the constellation will reach the end of their operational life faster than they will be replenished, and that the constellation will, in all likelihood, decrease in size.

And here is the final recommendation from the report:

Recommendation: Because of the criticality of the GPS system and potential delays, and given the importance of GPS to the civil community, the Secretary of Defense should appoint a single authority to oversee the development of the GPS system, including DOD space, ground control, and user equipment assets, to ensure that the program is well executed and resourced and that potential disruptions are minimized. The appointee should have authority to ensure DOD space, ground control, and user equipment are synchronized to the maximum extent practicable; and coordinate with the existing positioning, navigation, and timing infrastructure to assess and minimize potential service disruptions should the satellite constellation decrease in size for an extended period of time.

Somewhere in the report it even mentions that the military may see decrease in accuracy of GPS guided missiles - requiring the military forces to use bigger bombs or more bombs to hit the same target. Sad to see the report is not concerned about loss of civilians lives because of dumbing down “smart” bombs.

So yeah, we’re doomed. Nobody was blowing it out of proportion :)