Space Warfighter Heritage: GPS Improved for Public Use Published May 2, 2025 By Nathan A. Marzoli, SpOC/HO PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. -- We might all take for granted the common availability of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in our daily lives. Everyone with a smart phone can safely and easily navigate to a new coffee shop or even take a cross-country road trip. Hikers and others tramping around the outdoors can navigate to a remote mountain summit or backcountry lake without fear of getting lost. But GPS did not always have pinpoint accuracy for civilian users. Due to concerns that adversaries could employ the system against the United States, DoD leaders insisted on a less accurate GPS signal for non-military applications. This degradation was known as “selective availability.” The DoD initially developed GPS in the 1970s to improve the navigational capabilities of the U.S. military. As navigation, positioning, and synchronization errors had plagued military operations throughout history, a satellite-based system promised to improve navigation and reduce the fog of war. In November 1972, a U.S. Air Force team developed a concept that synthesized the best aspects of previous positioning programs. Development of the Navigation System with Timing and Ranging (NAVSTAR) satellites and the ground control system began the following year. The DoD launched its first prototype NAVSTAR satellite in 1978, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.