Atlantic gets chillier
Hooray! They're shooting Frenchmen into space! Oh. . . no I got that wrong? Frenchmen are launching things into space?
Rats.
The blog / website of the French liberal (libertarian) group Liberté Chérie notes continued development of the EU program Galileo , a network of satellites launched from France to "enhance" the capabilities of the United States' GPS location technology.
Don't be fooled, though: the "enhancements" are far from the latest example of trans-Atlantic amity and cooperation.
In terms of costs v. benefits, L.C. posits, the project is devoid of merit. GPS resolution would be improved only slightly - from the current 3 meters to close to 1 meter after the establishment of the French satellite network. What, asks the blogger Stéphanie, could then justify the expenditure of some 3 billion euros (apparently by some combination of France and the EU) in order to achieve such paltry results?
Her answer: France is shooting up rockets because the sky is falling on its alliance with the U.S.
GPS technology was made possible by the US military, and the world is still at our military's mercy for its use. If necessary, our generals could encrypt signals from GPS satellites in such a way as to make them accessible only to our forces.
France's "enhancement" of GPS, observes Stéphanie, is a (in her mind unnecessary) effort to have a failsafe in place in case the United States and France should ever part ways, a prospect that, if the Galileo program is any indicator, France seems to be taking more seriously.
Rats.
The blog / website of the French liberal (libertarian) group Liberté Chérie notes continued development of the EU program Galileo , a network of satellites launched from France to "enhance" the capabilities of the United States' GPS location technology.
Don't be fooled, though: the "enhancements" are far from the latest example of trans-Atlantic amity and cooperation.
In terms of costs v. benefits, L.C. posits, the project is devoid of merit. GPS resolution would be improved only slightly - from the current 3 meters to close to 1 meter after the establishment of the French satellite network. What, asks the blogger Stéphanie, could then justify the expenditure of some 3 billion euros (apparently by some combination of France and the EU) in order to achieve such paltry results?
Her answer: France is shooting up rockets because the sky is falling on its alliance with the U.S.
GPS technology was made possible by the US military, and the world is still at our military's mercy for its use. If necessary, our generals could encrypt signals from GPS satellites in such a way as to make them accessible only to our forces.
France's "enhancement" of GPS, observes Stéphanie, is a (in her mind unnecessary) effort to have a failsafe in place in case the United States and France should ever part ways, a prospect that, if the Galileo program is any indicator, France seems to be taking more seriously.
posted by Tanner | 1/10/2006 03:07:00 PM
2 Comments:
Civilian use of GPS systems can already locate within 1 meter with a WAAS decoder that uses ground based references. Such GPS units cost as little as $50, although admittedly WAAS usage is limited. On the other hand, doppler effect calculation and rapid GPS update rates (100 hz) can lead to 0.1 meter accuracy.
US military and select contractor use of GPS is FAR more accurate, to the fractional foot level. This type of precision requires a military decoder which is a highly guarded secret.
GPS could theoretically be switched off, but as it is a free service right now, there would be tremendous implications in doing so. It would have to be an emergency of epic proportion -- and with Google Earth available, what's the point?
All this to say that France is attempting to use the size of their satellite network to compensate for their lack of influence in the global community since WWII.
I note the use of "size" and "compensate" in the same sentence.
Some men buy sports cars. . . the nation of France launches satellites.
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