Satellite Navigation devices could start to fail from 2010, according to a US Government report. The network of orbiting GPS satillites is now around 20 years old, and satellites are expected to fail shortly.
The satellites need replacing after their 20 year lifespan, and the first launch of a new satellite was due for the start of 2007 by the US Air Force. This has slipped by over two and a half years so far due to “technical issues”, and the budget has already been exceeded.
It’s not clear just how close to failure the system actually is, but the official predictions are that if nothing’s done, we could start seeing breaks and unreliable GPS data from 2010, causing grief for the many military and commercial services that use GPS for positioning.
Bet you’re glad you didn’t throw that old A-to-Z away now?
June 10th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
Yes and remember just how devastating the millenium bug was.This is just scaremongering since there are 24 satellites in orbit so several could fail without anybody noticing. IT WON’T HAPPEN.
Well it might but only after all life on earth has been extinguished by earth’s collision with Mars.