A new White House policy on U.S. Space-Based Position, Navigation and Timing commits the government to maintaining the Global Positioning System as the premier service even in the face of growing competition from the likes of Europe's future Galileo system. The policy, which was signed Dec. 8 by President Bush and released last week, replaces a 1996 directive. The intent is to update existing rules to accommodate growth in the user community and other developments during the past decade, while still emphasizing the national security importance of GPS. This is the third in a series of space-related policy reviews completed by the White House; the space transportation policy should follow soon.
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