British GPS system

[MartG]

It seems that the politician's latest brainwave regarding going it alone with a GPS system after losing our place on Galileo thanks to Brexit is to buy in to the bankrupt OneWeb - the problem being they are totally the wrong type of satellite, and in the wrong orbit to boot

If you want a GPS system, you buy GPS satellites not internet comms ones - bloody obvious to anyone except our politicians

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jun/26/sa...

[MartG]

Terminator X said:

How do countries not part of the EU deal with GPS? Just do that.

TX.

They don't get the secure encrypted high-accuracy services - only the 'owners' of a particular system get that. The UK would have had access to Galileo's secure services but Brexit put a stop to that

[MartG]

Beati Dogu said:

I fear it has costly white elephant written all over it.

I'm interested in what changes they have planned, because to continue on the path it was on will lead to inevitable failure IMHO.

Even if it does turn out to be a success, going by past form with high tech projects, the British Government will probably pull out of the project 'to save money' just as it's about to become profitable

[MartG]

FT article

https://www.ft.com/content/d0721bad-e721-457a-8b1c...

[MartG]

Beati Dogu said:

^ It's paywalled unfortunately.

Bugger - it was fine when I first looked at it

[MartG]

Oh joy :/

“Having licensed OneWeb, under international treaties the UK is now legally liable for the OneWeb satellites

“If OneWeb goes bust and abandons its hardware in space, the UK is responsible for the debris.”

https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/uk-go...

[MartG]

ash73 said:

What precisely does OneWeb do?

Is this for gps / road charging, or rural internet?

I'm confused the two are being conflated.

It's for internet services, but the politicians seem to have got it into their heads that it can provide GPS, despite the satellites not being designed for that purpose and being in the wrong orbit

[MartG]

ash73 said:

Presumably internet satellites can transmit a location and time signal...

Not necessarily, and certainly not with the accuracy of a proper purpose built GPS satellite in a higher orbit

[MartG]

I wonder if the Russians will allow the OneWeb 14 payload to leave Russia to be launched elsewhere