A GPS ground-system error disrupts timing receivers worldwide
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.
Historical — it happened, and the record is settled.
Subjects
- GNSS timing dependency · concept · not located
- GPS (Navstar Global Positioning System) · technology system · not located
Evidence
Partly verified — Core facts are sourced; some optional detail is deliberately absent. This is the standing of the weakest source, not an average.
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
The economic impact on the UK of a disruption to GNSS
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.
London Economics, for UK government · 2017 · Partly verified
London Economics, The economic impact on the UK of a disruption to GNSS, prepared for UK government, 2017
Recorded on GNSS timing dependency
- The first Navstar GPS satellite launches
- GPS reaches full operational capability
- Selective Availability is switched off
- A GPS ground-system error disrupts timing receivers worldwide
Related
Related because they share a subject in the Atlas — never because the text looks similar.
- Selective Availability is switched off · 2000-05-01
- GPS reaches full operational capability · 1995-04-27
- The first Navstar GPS satellite launches · 1978-02-22