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I watched Bowling for Columbine the other day, and among the many good points the film made, Michael Moore noted that America is a society built on the premise of fear, be it because of urban violence, terrorist attacks, Y2K, or whatever else the media decides to exaggerate. So it’s no surprise to me that someone over at Wired decided to write an article about concerns over GPS (global positioning system) satellites. If they fail, after all, we may find ourselves in a second Dark Age.

Admittedly, the article quotes a military official who suggests its not really that big a deal if more of our GPS satellites break down, since there’s enough redundancy in the over-aged system to make up for a few more losses. There’s also a next-gen GPS system waiting for private sector funding, which happens to coincide nicely with our previous news post about privatization of space missions.

In any case, while we may be a tad behind in maintaining and updating GPS technology in space, we don’t have anything to cry about. In fact, unbeknownst to me until recently is the premise of turning GPS into a game, which combines a portable GPS device with hiking to create GeoCaching, which I can easily find myself taking delight in, and using as a reason to go outside, get some fresh air, and explore the land around me. All I need now is a portable GPS device.

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