Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

 

Leaked USAF Report Targets European GPS Satellites

Update Nov-04-2004: The baseline article for this story has been disputed; John Sheldon of Astropolitics, a space power and policy journal, states that there was no confrontation between US and Europeans on the issue of the Gallileo satellite system being used for military purposes. See his comments here.

Galileo is a set of thirty satellites and associated groundstations that is due to go into operations in 2008, providing a rival to the US Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) network. Galileo is a product of the European Union and the European Space Agency aimed at the lucrative GPS service market.

China became a partner in the Galileo program; peaceful uses include communications for the 2008 Olympics. Military applications are also possible.

According to a leaked US Air Force document written in August, Peter Teets, under-secretary of the USAF wrote:

"What will we do 10 years from now when American lives are put at risk because an adversary chooses to leverage the global positioning system of perhaps the Galileo constellation to attack American forces with precision?"

(From Global Positioning System Satellite Array)

The paper also reported that a disagreement between the US and the EU regarding Galileo at a London conference resulted in a threat to blow up the planned satellites. The European delegates reportedly said that they would not turn off or jam signals from their satellites, even if they were used in a war with the US.

The US has long expressed concerns about the system, which also numbers Russia and Israel as supporters. US and NATO operations that rely on GPS could be compromised; the Galileo system may also interfere with a classified Pentagon positioning system known as M-Code.

Galileo is expected to provide as many as 150,000 jobs throughout Europe. However, it could force countries into a pro-US (GPS) position or an anti-US (Galileo) position.

In his 1976 novel Shockwave Rider, John Brunner refers directly to the capability of destroying satellites in orbit. In the novel, this capability has filtered down from the military (who paid for development) to corporations, who could search for and destroy ("sand") the satellites of rival corporations.

Anti-satellite programs in the United States date from 1963, which saw the deployment of Program 437, which consisted of a Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile with a nuclear warhead. The basic idea was that this missile would be launched in the direction of an enemy satellite and then detonated. Anti-satellite programs in the former Soviet Union started in 1959 with the "Istrebitel Sputnikov" ("satellite destroyer") and resulted in the Polet spacecraft equipped with radar and heat-seeking homing systems in 1964.

See the original story at SpaceDaily.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 10/26/2004)

Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 9 )

Related News Stories - (" Space Tech ")

Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.' -

Solitary Black Hole Wanders In Space
'...the Hole is something like a vortex or a whirlpool?' - Frank K. Kelly, 1935.

Spaceplane From Virgin Atlantic
'ZARNAK, YOU'RE TO COMMAND A SCOUTING EXPEDITION --- FIND OUT WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!'

Taikonauts Exercise In China's Tiangong Space Station
'Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses...' - Murray Leinster, 1953.

 

Google
  Web TechNovelgy.com   

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

 

 

 

 

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

LLM 'Cognitive Core' Now Evolving
'Their only check on the growth and development of Vulcan 3 lay in two clues: the amount of rock thrown up to the surface... and the amount of the raw materials and tools and parts which the computer requested.'

Has Elon Musk Given Up On Mars?
'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.'

Bacteria Turns Plastic Into Pain Relief? That Gives Me An Idea.
'I guess there's nobody round this table who doesn't have a Crosswell [tapeworm] working for him in the small intestine.'

When Your Child's Best Friend Is An AI
'Figments of his mind in one sense, of course, for he had shaped them...'

China's Drone Mothership Can Carry 100 Drones
'So the parent drone carries a spotter that it launches...'

Drones Recharge In Mid-Air Like Jets Refuel!
'...nurse drones that would cruise around dumping large amounts of power into randomly selected pods.'

Australian Authors Reject AI Training Of Llama
'It's done with a flip of the third joint of the tentacle on the down beat.'

Is China Mining Helium-3 On The Moon's Farside?
'...for months Grantline bores had dug into the cliff.'

Maybe It's Too Soon To Require Autonomous Mode
'I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.

Is Agentic AI The Wrong Kind Of Smartness?
'It’s smart enough to go wrong in very complicated ways, but not smart enough to help us find out what’s wrong.'

Heat Waver - The First Ever Combo Solar Collector And Wind Turbine
'...like a spray of tulips mounted fanwise.'

Tesla 'Fleet Response Agents' Bolster FSD Autonomy
'You hate the whole idea that some bored drone pusher in a remote driving centre has got your life... in his hands.'

Mori3 Autonomous Shapeshifting Robot
'My homeland is being threatened by the Replicators. Thus far all attempts to stop them have failed.'

Tesla Seeks 'Tesla Robotaxi' And 'Robobus' Trademarks Ignoring Prior Art
'A robobus had just rolled up to the curb.'

Scary Grid Safety Robots
'The ultimate horror for our paranoid culture...'

Does AI Provide A Way Forward For Talk Therapy
'And there in the next room by the sofa sat a familiar suitcase, that of his psychiatrist Dr. Smile.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories

Home | Glossary | Invention Timeline | Category | New | Contact Us | FAQ | Advertise |
Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction™

Copyright© Technovelgy LLC; all rights reserved.