As space threats increase, the United States lags behind in protecting GPS services

The United States and China are engaged in a new race, in space and on Earth, for a fundamental resource: time itself.

And the United States is losing.

Global positioning satellites serve as clocks in the sky, and their Signals have become fundamental to the global economy – essential to telecommunications, 911 services and financial exchanges as they are to lost drivers and pedestrians.

But these services are increasingly vulnerable as space is rapidly militarized and satellite signals are attacked on Earth.

Yet unlike China, the United States do not have a plan B for civilians in case these signals are interrupted in space or on earth.

The risks may seem as far away as science- fiction. But last month the United States said Russia could deploy a nuclear weapon in space, refocusing attention on the vulnerability of satellites. And John E. Hyten, an Air Force general who also served as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and is now retired, once referred to certain satellites as "targets." big, big and juicy."

Tangible threats have been multiplying for years.

Russia, the China, India and the United States have tested anti-satellite missiles, and several major world powers have tested anti-satellite missiles. has developed technology intended to disrupt signals in space. A Chinese satellite has a robotic arm that could destroy or displace other satellites.

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