GPS reaches full operational capability
With the nominal constellation of twenty-four operational satellites in place and validated, the United States declared the Global Positioning System fully operational. Civil accuracy at that point was still deliberately degraded, so the immediate commercial effect was limited to applications tolerant of a hundred-metre error — marine navigation, surveying with differential correction, and fleet tracking — rather than the turn-by-turn consumer navigation that arrived only after the degradation was removed.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- GPS (Navstar Global Positioning System) · technology system · not located
- Global navigation satellite systems · technology system · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent.
GPS.gov — official US government information about the Global Positioning System
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.
United States government, National Coordination Office for Space-Based PNT · Partly verified
GPS.gov, official US government GPS programme information service
Recorded on GPS (Navstar Global Positioning System)
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- BeiDou-3 completes deployment and enters global service · 2020
- Galileo declares initial services · 2016-12-15
- A GPS ground-system error disrupts timing receivers worldwide · 2016-01-26
- Selective Availability is switched off · 2000-05-01
- The first Navstar GPS satellite launches · 1978-02-22