A GPS ground-system error disrupts timing receivers worldwide

Assembled from 19 blocks · 2 evidence · 11 related

1. Story
2. During the removal of a decommissioned satellite from the constellation, an error in the uploaded timing data introduced a discrepancy of about thirteen microseconds into the signals of a substantial number of GPS satellites. The positioning effect was negligible; the timing effect was not. Telecommunications equipment raised alarms, some digital broadcast systems failed, and the incident became the standard illustration of a dependency nobody had inventoried — a thirteen-microsecond error in a free signal propagating into terrestrial infrastructure across several continents.
3. Knowledge
4. GPS (Navstar Global Positioning System)
5. GNSS timing dependency
6. A GPS ground-system error disrupts timing receivers worldwide
7. Connections
8. GNSS timing dependency
9. GPS (Navstar Global Positioning System)
10. Global navigation satellite systems
11. A GPS ground-system error disrupts timing receivers worldwide
12. Global navigation satellite systems
13. The first Navstar GPS satellite launches
14. GPS reaches full operational capability
15. Selective Availability is switched off
16. A GPS ground-system error disrupts timing receivers worldwide
17. Evidence
18. Supports the GPS milestone dates (first Block I launch 1978, full operational capability 1995, Selective Availability discontinued 2000) and the standing policy that the civil GPS signal is provided worldwide free of direct user charge. V55 verification basis: gps.gov was not retrievable in this session; dates are stated from author knowledge and require confirmation.
19. Estimates the economic cost to the United Kingdom of a multi-day national GNSS outage, and enumerates the infrastructure sectors dependent on GNSS timing. V55 verification basis: the report was not retrieved in this session, so the headline figure is described only as several billions of pounds over five days rather than quoted.