Posted on 01/19/2011 8:23:34 PM PST by backwoods-engineer
Most navigation receivers these days can switch over to GLONASS if GPS is impaired. No biggie.
Civil War term, the Union started using gas filed Balloons for observation. Pretty soon the Confederates noticed that when the balloon went up, shortly thereafter the Yankees would attack.
So the term ‘ The Balloons Going Up “ meant to get ready for some bad s4!t to happen.
Are they turning off the GPS satellite signal or are they jamming it? Maybe they’re testing some kind of jamming equipment so they can prevent a GPS missle from finding its’ target if shot from a stealth Chinese missile boat.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2660089/posts
There’s a much easier way to do this. See how they navigate without GPS! My Dad helped invent GPS in the 60s and 70s. His system was called TIMATION for TIMe navigATION.
The booster pretty quickly leaves the vulnerable regime of flight. If a terrorist wants to destroy it, the best place to do it is on the ground. At least the target isn't moving. Once it takes flight, though, very few countries have the technology "to hit one bullet with another," and none of them would be overly concerned about yet another spy satellite.
Also, GPS guidance is of no use unless the target transmits its GPS position to the interceptor. I very much doubt that this is the case. To my knowledge, none of antimissile interceptors rely upon such a help from the target. Instead they use radars (internal and remote) and various other sensors.
IMO, the theory that they are going to be switching satellites over is the most likely explanation.
Who needs maps when I can just bring Mrs. BCC along to make me stop and ask for directions?
That is IF I was ever loose my way...for the very first time...ever.
Apparently this isn't accidental...:
Laser pointings soar; O'Hare. LAX top list
Snip: More than 100 incidents occurred at Los Angeles International Airport last year in which the safety of planes was put at risk by people pointing at them with lasers, and nearly as many incidents at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, federal officials said Wednesday.
That might make sense: disabling GPS over an area corresponding to a vulnerable regime of flight for the booster rocket and satellite, to prevent GPS-guided missiles from taking out a key spy satellite asset on its way up.
Is there any way to verify the launch trajectory? I think they would want to go east to take advantage of the Earth's added rotational velocity, so flying over the SE US is not out of the realm of possibility.
Vandenberg is in Southern California--pretty far away from the East coast.
Launches from Vandenberg always go North -- into polar orbit. If they went East, they would fly over populated areas, a safety problem.
Launches which go East originate at Kennedy, in Florida. East of Florida is lots of ocean.
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