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" We don’t have GPS on Mars,” says Tomas Martin-Mur, an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who has done navigation work for several Mars missions, including the Mars Science Laboratory, the ambitious mission that brought the rover Curiosity to the red planet in 2012. Nor is there any GPS for the solar system, he adds, which would be a useful way to correct for the effects of solar radiation—just one of the many things that can send a spacecraft off-course. The only GPS we have is on Earth, so we’ve harnessed it for space travel. "
― Greg Milner , Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds
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" beets were washed, sliced, and boiled to extract a syrup, which was then filtered, carbonated, combined with lime and sulfurous acid, evaporated, crystallized, and centrifuged to produce white sugar. "
― Greg Milner , Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds
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" The general principle is called passive ranging. Imagine you and a friend who lives far away each possess highly accurate synchronized clocks. In addition to your clock, you have a live video feed showing the face of your friend’s clock. You notice, from looking at the feed, that your friend’s clock is just slightly off from yours. What does this tell you? Perhaps one of your clocks is malfunctioning. But if you can rule out that error, and know with absolute confidence that both clocks are working perfectly, this discrepancy becomes information. The lag is caused by the time required for the image of your friend’s clock, traveling at the speed of light, to reach you. The speed of light is constant and stable. Your clocks are constant and stable. The lag is directly related to the distance between you and your friend. You now have tools in place for a satellite-based passive positioning system. "
― Greg Milner , Pinpoint: How GPS is Changing Technology, Culture, and Our Minds