Facts about GPS

1. 06

   Approximately 4 billion people worldwide now rely on GPS for navigation, with civilian applications generating over $1.4 trillion in economic value annually as of 2023.

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2. 05

   In 1983, Soviet fighter jets shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, killing all 269 people aboard, partly because the aircraft drifted off course without access to GPS, which remained a classified U.S. military system.

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3. 04

   Each GPS satellite transmits its location and time on two radio frequencies, L1 at 1575.42 MHz and L2 at 1227.60 MHz, allowing receivers to correct for atmospheric interference.

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4. 03

   The U.S. military intentionally degraded GPS accuracy to within 100 meters for civilian users until May 2000, when President Clinton signed an order removing this Selective Availability restriction.

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5. 02

   Relativistic time dilation requires GPS satellites' atomic clocks to run 38 microseconds faster per day than Earth-based clocks, or position errors would accumulate at roughly 7 miles daily.

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6. 01

   Twenty-four satellites orbiting Earth at 12,550 miles altitude enable GPS to pinpoint locations within 16 feet, a system fully operational since 1995.

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