The History Hack podcast recently interviewed Richard, who spoke about his father’s role in the early space race and the creation of GPS. The discussion also touches on the controversy that remains over the so-called “Lonely Halls Meeting” in 1973, the year the Pentagon merged Navy and Air Force satellite navigation programs to create the dual-use system that today functions as a global public utility. Listen to the podcast here.
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Richard recently spoke with John Mulnix, host of The Space Shot podcast, in a wide-ranging discussion about GPS. The conversation covers a basic overview of the technological workings of the system, some little-known early history of its development and how GPS today serves vital military and civilian needs. Listen to Episode 403 here.
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Cold War Conversations, a podcast series focused on the cold war era, recently interviewed Richard Easton about the early days of the U.S. space program and the origin of GPS. Listen to Episode 76 to hear Richard recall details of growing up with a father doing space projects at the Naval Research Laboratory and share details of his research into the military programs that led to GPS.
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Richard kicked off the new year with an appearance on TOCRadio’s Podcast Episode 19. In a wide-ranging interview, hosts Wyatt Harper and Matt Schoenfeldt queried him about the historical development of GPS and the arrival of GPS III satellites, which are finally launching after years of delays. Richard debunked the common myth that President Ronald Reagan declassified GPS for its first civilian use, discussed how GPS impacted the Persian Gulf War, summarized ongoing challenges related to spoofing and jamming, and raised the policy issue posed by whether new military receivers should incorporate other GNSS signals.
TOCRadio is a military-themed podcast produced by LTC Matt Schoenfeldt and CPT Wyatt Harper.
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SPY Historian Vince Houghton sat down with Richard Easton, co-author of GPS Declassified: From Smart Bombs to Smartphones, to discuss the development of GPS and its role in the military, intelligence, and civilian domains. Easton’s father, Roger, led the Space Applications Branch of the Naval Research Laboratory from the Vanguard Satellite era to the early days of GPS development. Listen to the entire podcast.
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On April 1, 2016, Richard Easton and Dr. Bleddyn E. Bowen were guests on The Space Show, hosted by Dr. David Livingston. They discussed space history and strategies for space security. Bowen is a Teaching Fellow in strategy, military history, and intelligence studies at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, Wales.
Listen to the podcast of the interview at the website:
http://www.thespaceshow.com/show/01-apr-2016/broadcast-2676-richard-easton-dr.-bleddyn-bowen
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Richard Easton will join Dr. Bleddyn E. Bowen as guests on The Space Show, hosted by Dr. David Livingston, on April 1, 2016, to discuss space history and space security strategy. Bowen is a Teaching Fellow in strategy, military history, and intelligence studies at the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, Wales.
Listen to the interview live from 9:30 a.m to 11 a.m. Pacific Time or by podcast later at the website:
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The recent article, “A Smart Bomb in Every Garage: Driverless Cars and the Future of Terrorist Attacks,” by Jeffrey Lewis, PhD, cites GPS Declassified. Lewis, a lecturer in International Studies at The Ohio State University, examines the threat of terrorists using self-driving cars to deliver car bombs. The article appears on The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) website.
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“There are abundant technical details about the design and operation of the system, but the book is entirely accessible to the intelligent layman….This book is an essential history of how this technology came to be, how it works, and where it may be going in the future.”
— John Walker, founder of Autodesk, Inc. and co-author of AutoCAD
Read the full review at the Fourmilab website
A recent article, “Launching the Brick Moon: GPS’ Path from the Space Race to Smartphone,” by Aaron Lovell in the Wilson Quarterly, references GPS Declassified and quotes coauthors Richard Easton and Eric Frazier. Lovell summarizes GPS history, starting with the earliest concept for an artificial satellite conceived by Edward Everett Hale in 1870, and follows the story all the way to present issues raised the app economy, made possible by smartphones.
Wilson Quarterly is produced by the Communications Department of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.
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