An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard a dispute over labels on the popular Roundup weed killer, which thousands of people blame for their cancers. How the Supreme Court rules could have implications for tens of thousands of lawsuits against Roundup maker Monsanto, which is now owned by Bayer. The case centers on who decides about warning labels on chemicals: the federal government — or states or juries. […] The justices will not be evaluating whether glyphosate causes cancer. Rather, they’ll consider who should decide what appears on warning labels and whether states have a role to play after the EPA weighs in.
The current U.S. solicitor general backed Monsanto. Sarah Harris, his principal deputy, said the Environmental Protection Agency is in the driver’s seat, not anyone in Missouri. “Missouri thus requires adding cancer warnings but federal law requires EPA to approve new warnings and tasks EPA with deciding what label changes would mitigate any health risks,” Harris argued. “State law must give way.” Several justices, including Brett Kavanaugh, appeared to agree with Monsanto’s argument about the need for a single, uniform standard across the country.
But others, like Chief Justice John Roberts, wondered what would happen if the federal government moved more slowly than states did, who wanted to act quickly on information about new dangers. “Well, it does undermine the uniformity,” Roberts said. “On the other hand, if it turns out they were right, it might have been good if they had an opportunity to do something, to call this danger to the attention of people while the federal government was going through its process,” he said about states.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked about the emergence of new science, and the EPA’s reviews. “There’s a 15-year window between when that product has to be re-registered again and lots of things can happen in science, in terms of development about the product,” she said. Bayer, which now owns Monsanto, only sells Roundup that contains glyphosate to farmers and businesses these days. Bayer has been pushing to resolve scores of the residential cases through a sweeping settlement, trying to put the costly claims behind it.
There are some cars that people just love to hate for one reason or another. Whether it’s because the cars are objectively bad or look like hot garbage, we’ve collectively hated on certain vehicles since the dawn of the mass-produced automobile.
I myself am guilty of this. I’ve been a proud car enthusiast all my life, developing my taste since I was a toddler. And even after several decades, certain cars just make me wince when I see them, like I’m swallowing a particularly dry and troublesome pill in the morning. But that’s just one side of the coin; after so many years studying and working around cars, I’ve also grown fond of some cars that are often the butt of car fans’ jokes.
This doesn’t extend to all of them, of course: I’ll openly admit my hatred of massive pickup trucks, boring crossovers, and excessive minimalism. But there are many cars that fans generally consider “bad” that I genuinely find appealing — and for objective reasons, too. In this article, I’ll go over some cars that history’s slammed and why they’ve been done way dirtier than they deserve, sticking with the oddballs so I don’t regurgitate points about why the Aztek was ahead of its time. Some of these cars are commercial failures, radical designs, or so rough that they’re barely a step above prototypes, with plenty of reasons to call them “bad.” But that doesn’t mean that they can’t be appreciated, or even beloved, for the unique traits they bring to the table. Let’s dive in and air out the skeletons in my automotive closet.
“No, it’s not a Pinto. Yes, I know it looks like a Pinto, but I swear it’s not a Pinto. See the giant decal on the long hood? Not a Pinto,” is surely a conversation that’s occurred at least once or twice. And it irritates me so much because the Mustang II is absolutely not a Ford Pinto. Okay, they share some of the subframe and powertrain options, but you have to put the car into the Oil Crisis context here.
For those uninformed, the 1973 Oil Crisis was devastating for the American automotive industry. It effectively gutted muscle cars, transforming automotive culture quite literally overnight. Gas restrictions hit big-block V8s hard, and American automakers had no answers; this led to a huge drop in sales and incentivized people to buy small Japanese imports instead. And just as this era hit, Ford introduced the Mustang II for model year 1974. It was lethargically slow, small, and had a four-cylinder engine as standard. It was also the reason the Mustang name survives today.
Think about it — the 1973 Mustang was a midsize, V8-powered, half-sports, half-luxury coupe. If it continued unchanged into the mid-1970s, its engine would’ve been choked to within an inch of its life. It would’ve been saddled with all the restrictions that nearly killed the American full-size coupe, and the name would’ve gone away with a whimper. The Mustang II’s formula was incredibly successful, carrying the brand kicking and screaming through the Malaise Era. People hate it because it was the slowest Mustang; I love it because there would be no more Mustang without it, period. Also, I have to admit the King Cobra’s decals look really good.
Here’s another example of a commercially successful car that the enthusiast community hated on for the longest time, and I genuinely have no idea why. Okay, yes, the Prius is abysmally boring to look at and drive, and it’s about as far from “enthusiast” car as one can get. But it’s still absolutely something I would daily. Why? It’s not because it’s exciting — okay, Toyota did race one in Super GT for some reason, but that’s beside the point. It’s because of what cars are supposed to do.
What is a car, but a box on four wheels that gets you from point A to B? I’m looking at it from an enthusiast’s perspective, granted. But if I were buying, say, a refrigerator, I’d buy something that fits enough groceries and doesn’t break down constantly. That’s the way I see the Prius. It’s the automotive equivalent of a boring kitchen appliance, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
There were so many memes about the second-gen Prius back in the 2000s and 2010s, and I can see why. Priuses are slow, bland, and thoroughly uninteresting, all of which runs counter to my instinct as someone passionate about cars. But that’s hardly the point; they were designed to haul people and their goods frugally, and they are still incredibly good at that. Objectively, it’s one of the most practical and economical vehicles money can buy today. I can say, hand on heart, that I’d drive one regularly without complaint, and that’s coming from a woman who dailies an R34 Skyline.
I actually had a die-cast model of one of these growing up, and I distinctly remember the day the suspension fell apart, throwing a plastic control arm under the couch and into the void. I imagine that’s how some non-car people see this, what with its kit-car looks. And enthusiasts dislike it because it has the same V6 engine as a minivan, married to a 4-speed slushbox automatic. The Prowler had a wild image, but let’s be real: this is no hot rod.
That said, well — just look at it. It’s so captivatingly strange that I can’t help but love it. The Prowler rode the crest of the retro-futurism wave, punctuated by other famously abhorrent 2000s-era designs like the PT Cruiser and Dodge Nitro. It was billed as a factory hot rod, with a front end that looked like a car that had run into a pencil sharpener. Then you have the protruding front bumpers and wheel arches, further contributing to its bizarreness. And yet, I see a yellow one now and then on the highway, and I still stare at the thing.
Sure, I know the Prowler’s V6 is famously lethargic, and I’m aware that it’s wildly impractical for anything other than joyriding. Don’t get me wrong, I should hate it. But then I see the thing in-person and I’m like, “Oh yeah, that’s why I love it.” It’s the king of wacky ’90s excess; the Insane Clown Posse of cars. And that’s what makes it special.
This goes back to my initial criticism of big American pickup trucks, perhaps further colored by my upbringing in suburbia. How much truck does the average American actually need? Statistically, not that much, considering the majority of Americans tend not to use their trucks for truck things. They’ve evolved from being agricultural and utility vehicles to massive, rolling showcases of technology with front ends that look like rolling garage doors. But back in the day, we had the first-gen Ford Ranger, the Mazda Pickup, the Jeep Comanche — and we liked them.
Now, yes, all of those trucks have more utility than a Ridgeline; they have bigger beds, for one. But that’s not the point, since we still have trucks for when we need that. Let’s instead take a critical look at what trucks have become in the 2020s. I understand the hate for the Ridgeline because it is indeed a crossover with a pickup bed. But that’s genuinely what a lot of these owners use their trucks for, anyway. Basically, we’re jamming a square peg into a round hole by using a big pickup to run around and grab groceries when something like the Ridgeline would absolutely suffice.
Ridgelines get hate for lackluster utility compared to purpose-built trucks, but they’re not purpose-built trucks — they’re daily drivers with pickup beds. They won’t break the bank, fit in the average parking spot, and are comfortable and reliable vehicles. I think it’s the perfect compromise outside of a ute, offering enough comfort, capacity, and towing capability to satisfy the general non-commercial audience. Just don’t mind the weird location of the spare tire.
This car is incredibly difficult to describe in a single sentence, but here goes nothing. The Vector W8 was the brainchild of Gerald Wiegert, who built a $450k (in 1989) supercar with a transverse 625-hp V8 coupled to a 3-speed auto from the Oldsmobile Toronado. It’s easily one of the most 1980s cars ever. It was also something of a technological marvel, utilizing top-tier materials and components of the era, with an interior that intentionally resembled a fighter plane — well before modern hypercars hopped on that bandwagon. Its vaporwave instrumentation is easily one of the weirdest dashboards ever designed, and that’s a bold statement when the Dome Zero exists.
Of course, that didn’t stop it from being a bad car. For instance, Car and Driver tested three Vector W8s, and all three broke down in different ways. Those advanced materials? They significantly increased the cost, meaning you’d have paid the equivalent of a million dollars to get a car that only ran properly some of the time.
Nevertheless, I love it. I remember the first time I found out about the W8; I was a little girl playing “Gran Turismo 2” and came across a purple one in-game. I remember thinking it was a knockoff Diablo or something, but it was fast and looked utterly captivating. Then I saw one at a car show, and that was that. Of course, actually owning one of these things would utterly drain my bank account. I imagine it’s, frankly, an absolute albatross. But for those rare instances where it works, it’d be as special and rare as coming across an elusive snow leopard.
DJI finally revealed the Mic Mini 2 microphone system this morning, and the transmitter now has a nifty front cover that pops off in seconds thanks to magnets, giving you the option of plain black or white, or a few fancier designs done in Victo Ngai’s style, such as pink-purple swirls, blue-green blurs, fiery orange-red hues, or even black-gold, and then there are the brighter options like teal, yellow, and purple. It weighs only 11 grams, making it simple to cling to your shirt or lapel without anyone seeing, but it really pops out when you want it to complement whatever you’re wearing.
It still appears similar to the original Mic Mini, but the minor changes make it much easier to use on a daily basis. You also get a detachable magnetic attachment that allows you to spin the microphone to precisely direct it where the sound is coming from. Once the shot is finished, simply return everything to the small charging case that keeps the transmitter, receiver, and all of the cords in one neat location, eliminating the need to rummage around for the various bits and bobs. That one case also has a total run-time of 48 hours when full, as well as up to 11.5 hours for the transmitter alone and 10.5 hours for the receiver, and 5 minutes on the charger gets you about an hour of recording time, and the system will simply shut down if the receiver moves out of range.
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Sound quality has improved significantly, with each recording made at a steady 48 kHz and 24 bit, resulting in extremely sharp clarity regardless of how close or far away the source is. You can also choose from three distinct speech tone settings to fit the situation and the speaker, as well as two levels of noise-canceling to deal with quiet rooms or bustling streets without having to tinker with settings. Another excellent feature is that the gain can be adjusted in five simple levels, and there is an automated limiter to prevent sudden loud moments from clipping. When paired with the free DJI Mimo app, you get dual recording and a safety track to protect against sudden volume surges.
The full-sized receiver has a remarkable range of 400m, while the smaller phone-plug version has a range of 300m. If you have an older DJI camera, such as the Osmo Pocket 3 or the Osmo Action, you can connect two transmitters directly without a receiver. The rest of the world will require the normal receiver to connect, although this setup works just fine with regular cameras, phones, laptops, and tablets. And, to ensure that no one needs to discard their old gear, it is still compatible with existing Mic Mini and mobile adapters.
The new kit’s pricing is quite appealing when compared to what we saw when the original was released. In the UK, a two-transmitter bundle with receiver and case costs £89 (about $120 US), while a single-transmitter mobile kit costs £49. You may also purchase separate transmitters for roughly £29 apiece. It is currently available in several locations, with a US launch planned soon (fingers crossed) once all relevant clearances are completed.
A new follow-up version, the Mic Mini 2S, will be available later this summer, but it’s worth noting that it includes built-in internal recording and supports up to four transmitters on a single receiver. That being said, the standard Mic Mini 2 already meets almost all of your daily needs as a vlogger, interviewer, or solo filmmaker looking for something lightweight, dependable, and simple to use, and the best part is that it never feels like a compromise.
Most fitness bands still look like tiny gym equipment strapped to your wrist. Inllie’s Luna Core Bracelet goes in a different direction, looking more like a polished piece of jewelry than something quietly counting your steps and judging your sleep.
It launches alongside the Sense Core Band, with both wearables taking a more refined, accessory-inspired approach to fitness tracking.
Luna Core is the model that makes the stronger first impression. Its slim bracelet design gives it a jewelry-like look, making it easier to wear with office outfits, evening plans, or everyday casual fits. It has the kind of finish that would not look odd next to rings, watches, or other accessories.
The Sense Core Band takes a slightly more familiar route, while keeping the look clean. Its slim front display can show key information such as battery, steps, and heart rate at a glance, while the option of a metal Milanese or silicone strap gives it more flexibility. You can make it look polished for the day or more practical for workouts.
Both wearables are designed to fit into everyday life without dominating your wrist. They track heart rate, blood oxygen, stress, heart rate variability, menstrual cycles, sleep, steps, and a range of workout modes, covering the usual wellness metrics in a more understated form. You get the full set of health tracking features without having to wear something that leans heavily into a sporty look.
Inllie also says the Luna Core Bracelet and Sense Core Band have been tested for drop and vibration resistance, so they are built for regular use. Both devices are rated for five to seven days of use, so you won’t need to think about charging them every night.
Luna Core costs $149, while Sense Core is priced at $109. For a wearable that looks this polished, Inllie has kept the price surprisingly reasonable. The company is also offering a limited-time bundle on both models, saving customers $79.
Pick up Apple’s new 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max for $3,699 thanks to a triple-digit price cut at Amazon.
Amazon’s month-end 2026 MacBook Pro sale is in effect, with triple-digit savings on multiple models. This M5 Max 16-inch configuration is enticing at $200 off, bringing the price down to $3,699.
Buy 16″ MacBook Pro M5 Max for $3,699
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Sniffies, a Seattle-based meetup platform for gay, bisexual and sexually curious men, has landed a $100 million investment from Match Group. The deal gives Match a significant minority ownership stake in the Grindr competitor, along with an option to acquire the company outright.
Match Group owns a suite of dating apps including Tinder, Hinge, Match and OKCupid. Its CEO is Spencer Rascoff, a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Zillow and later led the Seattle real estate giant, and who also co-founded the second-home marketplace Pacaso.
Blake Gallagher launched Sniffies more than eight years ago and serves as CEO. On LinkedIn, he describes the app as a “no-holds-barred, sex-positive platform that enables and encourages its users to genuinely explore their sexuality, fantasies, and kinks both virtually and physically.”
The platform claims roughly 3 million monthly active users worldwide and more than 20 million messages exchanged daily. It has 65 employees.
The investment — which is the startup’s first — “unlocks our ability to move faster on the things that matter most: stronger trust & safety, better product, and a more dynamic network,” Gallagher said in a LinkedIn post.
The company is profitable and will continue operating independently under Gallagher’s leadership, Bloomberg reported. As part of the arrangement, Match will phase out Archer app, its existing app for queer men that the company launched three years ago.
In a statement, Rascoff pointed to growing demand in this space, adding that “Sniffies feels genuinely different and authentic to its audience.”
Gallager studied architecture at the University of Washington, and then served as a project designer at HOK and McClennan Design where he worked on urban development projects across the globe and Microsoft’s Executive Briefing Center renovation project. The company’s chief marketing officer is Eli Martin, who studied business at Western Washington University and prior to Sniffies worked as a producer on broadcast and digital campaigns for PepsiCo and JPMorgan Chase.
In a LinkedIn post, Gallagher said “the product, the tone, and the community will continue to be shaped by the people who use it.”
Rascoff, meanwhile, responded that it’s clear the product “came from a strong founder instinct and a deep understanding of the community and how they actually want to connect.”
A 19-year-old dual United States and Estonian citizen arrested in Finland earlier this month faces federal charges in the U.S. alleging he was a prolific member of the notorious Scattered Spider hacking collective.
According to temporarily unsealed court records obtained by the Chicago Tribune, the suspect (who used the online alias “Bouquet”) helped extort millions of dollars from multiple large corporations worldwide.
The suspected Scattered Spider member, who was allegedly arrested by Finnish law enforcement at Helsinki’s airport on April 10 while attempting to board a flight to Japan, is facing wire fraud, conspiracy, and computer intrusion charges.
In a six-count complaint filed under seal in December, prosecutors say that Bouquet was involved in at least four Scattered Spider breaches (including a March 2023 hack of an online communication platform, conducted when he was 16 years old) that forced the victim companies to pay millions of dollars in ransoms.
The list of companies breached with Bouquet’s help also includes an unnamed multibillion-dollar “luxury item retailer” in May 2025, when the hackers allegedly called the company’s IT helpdesk posing as employees to reset authentication credentials, then gained access to administrator accounts.
The group later sent a ransom demand, claiming to have 100 gigabytes of stolen data, and eventually demanded $8 million. However, even though the company refused to pay, it still incurred more than $2 million in disruption and remediation costs.
BleepingComputer reached out to the Department of Justice and the Office of the Attorney General for more details, but a response was not immediately available.
Scattered Spider (also tracked as 0ktapus, Scatter Swine, Octo Tempest, Starfraud, UNC3944, and Muddled Libra) surfaced in 2022 and is a loosely knit, financially motivated hacking collective composed largely of teenagers and young adults from the U.S. and Great Britain.
According to the FBI, they are known for using a blend of social engineering, targeted multi-factor authentication (MFA) bombing (aka MFA fatigue), and SMS credential phishing attacks to steal user credentials and sensitive documents for extortion leverage after breaching their targets’ networks.
Scattered Spider’s list of victims includes many high-profile companies, such as Caesars, MGM Resorts, Riot Games, MailChimp, Twilio, DoorDash, Reddit, Allianz Life, UK retailers Co-op, Marks & Spencer (M&S), and Harrods, and, more recently, WestJet and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).
Earlier this month, 24-year-old Tyler Robert Buchanan, believed to be one of Scattered Spider’s leaders, pleaded guilty in the United States to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
AI chained four zero-days into one exploit that bypassed both renderer and OS sandboxes. A wave of new exploits is coming.
At the Autonomous Validation Summit (May 12 & 14), see how autonomous, context-rich validation finds what’s exploitable, proves controls hold, and closes the remediation loop.
We all know that you can’t bring a box cutter or a baseball bat onto a plane, but it can be hard to keep up with some of the restrictions on electronic items from airlines, especially on international flights. In the U.S., the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) allows you to carry on antlers and shock collars for pets, but cast iron skillets and snow cleats are a no-go.
When it comes to electronics, you should definitely do a quick Google search before you board your flight. The rules are ever-changing and it can be difficult to keep up. Almost all of us travel with our smart phones, and many of us also pack tablets, laptops, and other electronics, along with portable power banks to keep those items charged while we travel. In 2025, TSA prohibited portable chargers and power banks in checked luggage due to the lithium-ion batteries those items use, but another country is taking it a step further.
Beginning on April 24, 2026, Japan will no longer allow the use of portable power banks and chargers on all commercial flights to and from Japan. Though passengers can still pack up to two of them per person in carry-on bags, travelers are not allowed to use them to recharge phones. They are also prohibited from charging any device with a lithium-ion battery using power outlets inside the plane. The concern is that power banks and other items with these batteries may overheat and catch fire.
You may be frustrated to learn that you can’t charge your devices, including your smart phone, on commercial flights into and out of Japan. However, the decision was made to improve safety. In the U.S. alone, there have been 717 verified incidents aboard airplanes since 2006 that were caused by lithium-ion batteries, including 281 that were caused by batteries or battery packs. These incidents involve smoke, fire, or extreme heat. In one such incident caused by a passenger’s personal device in 2025, a cabin fire broke out on an American Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Phoenix, forcing an emergency landing in Washington, D.C.
Japan reported 123 incidents involving batteries in 2024, which represents a 160% increase since 2020. The country’s new regulations were made in response to revised international standards from the International Civil Aviation Organization, a specialized United Nations agency that “helps 193 countries to cooperate together and share their skies to their mutual benefit.”
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) limits passengers to carrying two spare batteries or power banks per person, and individual airlines may have additional rules and limitations. For example, Southwest Airlines limits passengers to one power bank that cannot be placed in the overhead bin and cannot be charged with in-seat power. If you plan to fly with a power bank, be sure to check your airline’s rules and regulations prior to traveling.
Since 2022, the Sikorsky HH-60W, dubbed the “Jolly Green II” (not to be confused with the much larger “Jolly Green Giant”), has been in service as the United States Air Force’s combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopter. Its manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, claims that the HH-60W is the only helicopter made for the sole purpose of CSAR.
That’s quite a claim, so what makes it different from the visually very similar UH-60 Black Hawk that’s been in service for decades? After all, the HH-60W borrows a lot from the platform. Aside from mechanical components, however, the similarities are little more than skin deep.
What makes the Jolly Green II the perfect purpose-built CSAR helicopter? First, it’s built for survivability. It has chaff and flare launchers to thwart surface-to-air missiles and potential airborne threats, and it has tech onboard to warn the crew if the enemy is firing at it or has achieved missile lock. Additionally, the exhaust vents are configured in such a way that the infrared signature is less noticeable, according to the U.S. Air Force.That survivability is bolstered by the addition of mounted 7.62-millimeter rotary guns (also called miniguns) or .50 caliber heavy machine guns.
The HH-60W has also been made better for the crew and overall usability. The avionics and navigation suite have been completely upgraded over the previous generation of search and rescue helicopters (called the “Pave Hawk”). It now has live map displays so crews can more easily navigate difficult terrain to find downed airmen or otherwise missing personnel. The interior cabin has been made larger for more crew space or to house extra medical equipment if needed.
As for range, the HH-60W enjoys a much larger fuel tank compared to other Black Hawk variants at 644 gallons. The addition of a refueling probe for mid-air refueling gives the HH-60W the range it needs, at 690 miles, to make sure everyone gets home.
Lockheed Martin says that it’s more aerodynamically capable than previous CSAR helicopters. The HH-60W Jolly Green II has a longer range, better tech, a bigger cabin, and more tricks up its sleeve to confound the enemy and bring people home from combat than a run-of-the-mill Black Hawk.
Amazon has today announced a software update for both the Kindle Colorsoft and Kindle Scribe Colorsoft which will bring dark mode to both e-readers. Even better, users will be able to toggle the settings for specific menus on both devices, so if they want their library dark and their notebook light, they can. Given the option is available on plenty of other Kindle devices, its omission here always felt like something Amazon was just getting around to addressing.
In addition, the update brings Smart Shapes to notebooks, enabling users to add pre-drawn lines, arrows, circles, triangles and rectangles from the toolbar. In addition, a hold-to-snap tool lets you draw a shape freehand, after which point it’ll pull itself into a nice tidy design. Both should help folks who want to add some graphical zing to their note taking who can’t do all those fancy journal designs on their own.
The update is rolling out across the ecosystem across the next few days, further empowering would-be journal scribes using these tablets. For tablets like the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, it’s clear Amazon needs to build out the Scribe half of the equation, which looks like a poor relative compared to its competition. As Cherlynn Low wrote in her review, it’s a fine e-reader, but one that’s sorely lacking in many areas.
Considering how integral it is to our modern way of life, you could be excused for thinking that the Global Positioning System (GPS) is a product of the smartphone era. But the first satellites actually came online back in 1978, although the system didn’t reach full operational status until April of 1995. While none of the active GPS satellites currently in orbit are quite that old, several of them were launched in the early 2000s — and despite a few tweaks and upgrades, their core technology isn’t far removed from their 1990s era predecessors.
So what new capabilities do these third-generation GPS satellites offer, and why has it taken so long to implement needed upgrades in such a critical system?
To understand the future of GPS, it’s helpful to look at its past. Developed by the United States military during the Cold War, what we now call GPS was originally known as Navigation System with Timing and Ranging (NAVSTAR). While the intent was always to allow civilian use of NAVSTAR, the equipment necessary to receive the signal and get a position was cumbersome and expensive.
There was little public interest in the system until Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down in 1983 after mistakenly entering the Soviet Union’s airspace. With the lifesaving potential of NAVSTAR clearly evident, pressure started building on the industry to develop smaller and more affordable receivers — GPS as we know it was born.
That the development of such devices was possible in the first place was thanks to the design of NAVSTAR. Each satellite in the constellation broadcasts a timed radio signal which receivers on the ground use to compute their distance from the source. By comparing the signals from multiple satellites, a receiver can plot its position without the need for any local infrastructure. Since the process is entirely one-way, the can could be freely used by any device can can receive and decode the signal.
But while this operational simplicity was key to the proliferation of cheap ubiquitous GPS receivers, there’s certainly room for improvement given more modern technology. When NAVSTAR was designed knowing where a receiver was located within a radius of a few meters was more than sufficient, but today there’s a demand for greater accuracy by both civilian and military users. Given the essentially incalculable value of GPS to the global economy, improving reliability is also paramount. Not only has GPS jamming and spoofing become trivial, but even without the involvement of bad actors, legacy GPS struggles in urban environments.
Plans to deliver improved performance in these areas have been in the works for decades, with the United States Congress first authorizing the work on what would become GPS III all the way back in 2000. But when working on a system so critical that even a few minutes of downtime could put the entire planet into turmoil, such changes don’t come easy.
While modern GPS receivers are more sensitive than those in the past, there’s simply no getting over the fact that signals coming from a satellite more than 20,000 kilometers away will be by their very nature weak. So not only is it relatively easy for adverse environmental conditions to block or hinder the signal, but it doesn’t take much to override the signal with a local transmitter if somebody is looking to cause trouble.
As such, one of the key goals of the GPS III program was to deliver higher transmission power. This will lead to better reception for all GPS users across the board, but the new satellites also offer some special modes that offer even greater performance.
In addition to the backwards compatible signals transmitted by GPS III satellites, there’s also a new “Safety of Life” signal. This signal is transmitted at a different frequency, 1176 MHz, and at a higher power, so compatible receivers should hear it come in at approximately 3 dB above the “classic” signal. It’s intended primarily for high-performance applications such as aviation, but as compatible receivers get cheaper, it will start to show up in more devices.
These improvements should be enough for civilian use, but the military has higher expectations and operates under more challenging conditions. In such cases, future GPS III satellites will come equipped with a high-gain directional antenna that can project a “spot beam” signal anywhere on Earth. For receivers located within the beam, which is estimated to be a few hundred kilometers in diameter, the received signal from the satellite will be boosted by up to 20 dB. In contested environments, this should make it far more resistant to jamming and spoofing.
The new signals being transmitted by GPS III satellites won’t just be louder than their predecessors, they’ll gain some new features as well.
For one thing, GPS III satellites will transmit a standardized signal known as L1C which offers interoperability with other global navigation systems such as Europe’s Galileo, China’s BeiDou, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), and Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System. In theory a compatible receiver will be able to process signals from any combination of these systems simultaneously, improving overall performance.
To make GPS III transmissions even more secure, the military is also getting their own signal known as M-code. As you might expect, little is publicly known about M-code currently, but it’s a safe bet that it utilizes encryption and other features to make it more difficult for adversaries to create spoofed transmissions. For what it’s worth, a recent press release from the US Space Force claims that the use of M-code makes the next-generation GPS satellites “three-times more accurate and eight times more resistant to jamming than the previous constellation.”
Although all ten GPS III satellites are now in orbit, that doesn’t mean the constellation is complete. Starting in 2027, a new fleet of revised satellites known as GPS IIIF will start launching. They will take the lessons learned from the initial GPS III deployment to create a smaller, lighter, and more efficient platform that should have a service life of at least 15 years.
They’ll also include new in-development equipment that wasn’t quite ready for deployment when the current GPS III satellites were being assembled. This includes optical reflectors that will allow ground stations to more accurately track the position of each satellite, laser data links that will allow high-speed communication between satellites, and an improved atomic clock known as the Digital Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standard (DRAFS).
Of course, the vast majority of the people who use GPS every day will never be aware of all the changes and improvements happening behind the scenes. When they get a new phone with a GPS III-compatible receiver, they may notice that their navigation app locks on a bit faster or that the position shown on the screen is a little closer to where they are actually standing, but only if they are particularly attentive. But that’s entirely by design — the most important aspect of implementing GPS III is making the whole process as invisible as possible.
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