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What’s new: Well… it’s not entirely new. Todd Humphreys and others have been talking about terrestrial sources interfering with satellites for a while. This is the first time we have seen it in more popular/ general media, though.
Why it’s important:
- This helps folks understand how incredibly reliant we are on GPS for so many things, and how impactful interference can be.
- It highlights how other constellations depend on GPS. Using a comms constellation to infer location might work if GPS/GNSS is disrupted locally, its not a safeguard against a widespread or global denial/outage.
What else to know: Another example of how technology has evolved without considering the resilience or reliability of underlying systems.
- Developing and implementing cutting edge tech without considering resilience or impacts is selfis and irresponsible. It is dangerous to individual users and society. Think about an internet where users can be completely anonymous, PNT systems that can be easily denied or fooled, and AI without guardrails.
- Building in resilience and authentication is generally more expensive and there are often few incentives for any tech provider to do so.
- We establish governments to safeguard the common good against those who would damage it for their individual gain. In the west, for the most part, our governments function by our popular consent. They must act in and for our common interest. Unfortunately, too often they fail to do so.
GPS Jamming Extends to Low-Earth Orbit as Pentagon Races to Bolster Constellation
LAS VEGAS—The jamming of GPS signals around Ukraine has become so severe it is even affecting satellites up to 1,200 miles above the Earth’s surface—a striking example of why the Space Force and the Pentagon are moving to bolster the ubiquitous service, experts say.
“We have images showing [GPS reception details] for all the cubesats that the Aerospace Corp. flies in low-Earth orbit, and there’s a giant hole above the Ukraine region,” John Janeski of the Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research and development center, told Air & Space Forces Magazine on the sidelines of ASCEND, an annual industry space conference.