WASHINGTON (States News Service) -- The United States has dropped its ban on the civilian use of a highly accurate satellite-navigation system, a decision which could spur commercial use.
Starting Tuesday at midnight Greenwich Mean Time (Monday, 8 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) the Pentagon will "deactivate" its exclusive use of the Global Positioning System (GPS), allowing anyone already owning a GPS device to locate their bearings to within 60 feet (20 meters).
President Clinton said the change would give a major boost to the millions of civilian and government users of the positioning system around the globe, and bring benefits to transportation safety, scientific and commercial interests. And it could also bring major changes to NASA's operations.
"This increase in accuracy will allow new GPS applications to emerge and continue to enhance the lives of people around the world," Clinton said.
The current restrictions have limited civilians and non-defense agencies to locate their position to within 300 feet (100 meters), making the new improvement "instantly" 10 times better, said the president's science advisor, Neil Lane, at a White House briefing.
The U.S. Defense Department will retain the ability to block an enemy country or region from using the more accurate system, said Assistant Secretary of Defense Arthur Money at a White House briefing. The system is free to anyone worldwide, "unless we're in a conflict somewhere," he said, in which case the military could "counter" an enemy's use.
The Global Positioning System is run on 37 orbiting government-owned satellites that provides accurate location and timing information to millions worldwide, at no charge.
Lane said the policy change, part of a 1996 presidential directive to spur civil, commercial and scientific use of the GPS worldwide, would accelerate the growth of the $8 billion market for satellite global positioning.
Lane said GPS units, available for about $300, will become "instantly more valuable" by tomorrow morning.
The implications are also great for NASA, which has also been barred from using the more accurate system, Deputy Associate Administrator William Readdy said after the briefing.
Readdy said if the International Space Station is equipped with GPS sensors, future spacecraft will be able to navigate around the station with precise accuracy.
Using this new system, NASA's space shuttles could navigate using the GPS, rather than sending radar messages to ground-based tracking stations, Readdy said.
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