Category Archives: News

Easton and Frazier Speak at Peterson AFB

Richard Easton and Eric Frazier were recently invited by the National Security Space Institute (NSSI), located at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo., to speak to students and faculty.

The two-day visit included a 90-minute presentation, July 21, as part of the Space Professionals Speaker Series, hosted by Gen. John E. Hyten, Commander, Air Force Space Command.

Eric F. Frazier and Richard Easton speak at Peterson AFB as part of the Space Professionals Speaker Series July 21, 2016Eric F. Frazier and Richard Easton speak at Peterson AFB as part of the Space Professionals Speaker Series July 21, 2016

Eric F. Frazier and Richard Easton speak at Peterson AFB as part of the Space Professionals Speaker Series July 21, 2016Easton TV-3 rotated

Eric F. Frazier and Richard Easton speak at Peterson AFB as part of the Space Professionals Speaker Series July 21, 2016Eric F. Frazier and Richard Easton speak at Peterson AFB as part of the Space Professionals Speaker Series July 21, 2016

Space Pro Reading ListBook Signing 1

The authors got a behind-the-scenes tour of the GPS ground control facility at nearby Schriever AFB and met more than a dozen of the over 100 members of the 2nd Space Operations Squadron, who keep the GPS constellation running smoothly 24/7.

Easton and Frazier presented their talk, “GPS: Military Asset, Public Utility,” five times in all, including to the space professionals community, to three classes of NSSI students from the United States and allies, and to a faculty gathering.

For two individuals who have devoted countless hours to researching the historical development of GPS, as well as its economic and sociological implications, Easton and Frazier consider it a rare treat to have the opportunity to meet the experts who manage GPS and see firsthand the facilities they operate.

View the entire talk at YouTube:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

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Richard Easton & Bleddyn Bowen on The Space Show

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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GPS Origin Myths in Popular Books

The Space Review recently published Richard Easton’s article, “GPS origins myths as propounded by Stephen Johnson and Annie Jacobsen.” In the article, he lists a number of credibility-shattering errors found in two popular books that have received positive reviews and (unjustifiable) praise for their scholarship.

In most instances, a simple Google search and an hour or so of reading the results would have informed the writers that the two satellite systems they conflate–Transit and GPS–were developed by different entities at different times and used different technologies.

Public ignorance and misunderstanding about GPS is widespread. That might not matter much, if it were not a system that taxpayers spend around $1 billion a year to maintain and that has become a vital public utility around the planet.  It is unfortunate that large publishers and media organizations unwittingly perpetuate errors and misunderstanding through lack of due diligence.

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START Consortium Article Cites GPS Declassified

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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GPS Declassified Cited in Wilson Quarterly Article

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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Richard Returns to Milt Rosenberg Show

On June 30, 2015, Richard joined a panel discussion on the Milt Rosenberg Show to talk about the history and future of space exploration.

Other guests were Bill Melberg, a former aviation executive and now editor of AmericasUncommonsense.com, professional speaker and frequent writer on aerospace topics, and Dr. Paul Spudis, an astrogeologist and moon expert who is senior staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas.

Listen to the podcast here.

Milt Rosenberg welcomes Bill Melberg and Richard Easton to the WCGO studio.

Milt Rosenberg welcomes Bill Melberg and Richard Easton to the WCGO studio. On the desk in front of them sits a prototype model of the camera used on Surveyor I, the first unmanned lunar soft-lander.

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GPS Update – The Space Show

On March 1, Richard Easton and Eric Frazier joined Dr. David Livingston, host of The Space Show, for a discussion about GPS modernization. Topics included new capabilities, schedule delays, cost overruns, international competition and potential threats to the system–a concern shared by many listeners, as evidenced by questions posed by email and callers. You can listen to the podcast here.

The Space Show

 

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Phoenix Patriot Magazine Article Cites GPS Declassified

Keely Grasser, author of “From Duct Tape to Drones: Military Inventions That Impact our World,” in the Winter 2015 edition of Phoenix Patriot Magazine, interviewed Richard Easton and Eric Frazier for background information on GPS, one of eight innovations covered in the article. The key point she makes: GPS technology has spread throughout so many military, commercial and consumer industries that economists now find it impossible to accurately put a dollar figure on its overall worldwide impact.

GPS technology has grown so pervasive that its economic impact is immeasurable

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Richard Easton Discusses GPS with Business Insider

Business Insider recently spoke with Richard Easton for input on its article, How Does GPS Work?

Richard noted that while GPS costs about $1 billion a year to maintain and replenish, it produces perhaps $100 billion per year in economic benefits, quite a “bang for our buck.”

Applications for GPS continue to expand, owing largely to a decision made at the beginning–to make the system passive. GPS satellites broadcast one-way signals, like a radio station, meaning an unlimited number of users can share them without transmitting anything back to the satellite, which would saturate the system and limit its use.

II IIA 1 GPS

Photo via GPS.gov

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“From Harrison to GPS” – Richard Easton at The Explorers Club, NYC

Public Lecture Series feat. Richard Easton – May 5, 2014 from The Explorers Club on Vimeo.

From Harrison to GPS – This lecture traces the development of navigation from the 18th century longitude problem to the invention of the Global Positioning System. Easton will describe the two major proposed solutions to the longitude problem: accurate clocks as developed by John Harrison and observations of celestial objects such as lunars and the Jovian moons. He will then trace the history of satellite navigation proposals culminating in GPS which combines the two 18th century proposals, putting accurate synchronized clocks in satellites which are artificial celestial objects.

Full Website Listing & Description:
http://www.explorers.org/index.php/events/detail/nyc_lecture_series_w_richard_easton

June 9, 2014 · 10:41 pm