Saturday, January 30, 2010

Air Force Searches For Alternatives to GPS

Echo, NASA's first communications satellite, was a passive spacecraft based on a balloon design created by an engineer at the Langley Research Center. The Mylar satellite measured 100 feet in diameter and could be seen with the naked eye from the ground as it passed overhead. (Photograph by NASA)

From Popular Mechanics:

As the administration dismantles its only backup system, the Air Force looks at replacements to guard against the Pentagon's over-reliance on GPS satellites.

Last week, the Air Force's Chief of Staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, gave voice to a chink in the U.S. military's armor, one that many know about but few like to discuss in public: Without satellites, modern militaries lose most of their edge. "It seemed critical to me that the joint force reduce its dependence on GPS (Global Positioning System)," he told attendees at a national security conference in Washington.

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