Shock in the science and tech world: evidence that Russia is jamming the GPS signal from space, which was impossible until now. The drone from Constanța, invoked in the discussions

A network of Russian satellites has jammed the GPS signal in Europe and elsewhere dozens of times since 2019, according to a new study and information from a US Air Force report leaked to the US media.

• The information caused astonishment. Until now, it was known that GPS jamming could be done with ground or airborne installations, but not “targeted” from satellites.
• Jamming doesn't just mean losing control, it can also mean taking control in certain cases.
• “GPS signal jamming was also considered responsible for the explosion of a Ukrainian drone in a Romanian port on Friday,” one of the analyzes states.
• HotNews spoke to people in the tech and GPS community in Romania, who confirmed the concern.
• The financial, transport and urban security systems are also vulnerable, writes the international press.

Alerted by the US, the EU is working on a system to “detect and locate interference” caused by satellites, a spokesman said, according to The New York Times (NYT).

The initial study, by three researchers from the University of Texas and Stanford University, details how, after nearly two years of effort, researchers were able to identify a constellation of Russian early warning satellites in Molniya-type orbits as the source of a series of hard-to-detect disturbances in GPS signals.

The paper identified 75 events over a seven-year period in which ground reference stations operated by the International Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Service in Europe, Greenland and Canada experienced simultaneous and significant disturbances.

“I think it's a massive escalation”

GPS systems are essential for aviation, international shipping, synchronize financial systems and mobile communication towers and other systems. It's crucial for logistics systems, ride hailing apps, delivery systems and even dating apps, notes Veritasium, a popular science and engineering YouTube channel.

A disruption of these systems over areas as wide as these satellites are capable of could affect hundreds of millions of people, he explains.

“That would send shockwaves around the world, not just Europe, because a whole new space weapon would be revealed,” said one of the study's authors, Todd Humphreys of the University of Texas' department of aerospace engineering.

“And people will know that at any time they want, Russia can deploy it over their country or their continent. I think that's a massive escalation in the context of electronic warfare conflict right now,” added Humphreys, a renowned expert on satellite navigation systems.

Sky News: GPS jamming and the Constanta drone

In the study published on Friday, the scientists say that GPS signal disruptions were detected simultaneously at stations in Europe, Greenland and Canada.

GPS signal jamming has become a recurring problem in recent years and was also considered responsible for the explosion of a Ukrainian drone in a Romanian port on Friday, notes Sky News.

According to the study, disturbances recorded in the last seven au typically lasted between three and five seconds, and the data suggests “a single source for each event”.

“The affected terrestrial receivers cover such a vast geographical area that no single terrestrial or aerial source could cover them all; hence the hypothesis of a space origin,” the experts added.

The study identified 75 days where at least one “wide-area transient GNSS interference event” was recorded.

In Romania, HotNews talked to people from the tech community and GPS experts. They confirmed that the shock of the news is really extremely important. They declined to be quoted, given the sensitivity of the subject.

“Could jam a continent every day”

Scientists have not been able to determine the Russians' motives and do not even know if they are aware that their satellite signals are interfering with GPS services, the NYT writes.

What worries experts, however, is that this activity—whether intentional or accidental—can continue unabated for years and disrupt a technology so fundamental to the modern world.

With a space jammer, “someone could, if they wanted to, selectively jam an entire continent every day,” said Ramsey Faragher, director of the Royal Navigational Institute in London.

The three satellites involved in the interference studied by scientists belong to a Russian constellation known as EKS, which is responsible for detecting missile launches and nuclear explosions around the world, according to Bart Hendrickx, a historian of the Russian space program.

The first case of large-scale jamming was recorded in October 2019, a month after the launch of the first active satellite in the EKS constellation. It was most recently detected in mid-February.

Photo: Stanislav Shahurin | Dreamstime.com