Russia Has Been Jamming GPS From Space, and Almost Nobody Noticed
A Veritasium investigation into research from UT Austin traced years of mysterious GPS blackouts over Europe to a Russian missile-warning satellite.
The unsettling part isn’t what it did. It’s what the same hardware could do at full power.
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Most people think GPS is navigation.
It’s not. Or rather, navigation is just one aspect.
GPS is timing. It’s the synchronization signal underneath cell networks, stock exchanges, power grids, shipping, aviation, logistics, precision agriculture, and the financial transactions that clear trillions of dollars a day.
It’s drones, missiles, tractors, container ships, and the small blue dot that tells you whether you’re on the right side of the street or about to walk with total confidence into a canal.
We built modern civilization on a faint radio whisper from 20,000 kilometers up, decided it was free and permanent, and stopped thinking about it.
