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Title: US Navy returns to celestial navigation amid fears of computer hack
Source:
The Telegraph
URL Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor ... id-fears-of-computer-hack.html
Published: Oct 14, 2015
Author: Harriet Alexander
Post Date: 2015-10-14 14:49:19 by nativist nationalist
Keywords: None
Views: 1159
Comments: 7
US Navy recruits to learn how to navigate using the stars as America grows increasingly worried about possible hacking of computer navigation systems It was how Odysseus sailed the seas, how Columbus reached the Americas, and how Lawrence of Arabia found his way across the vast, featureless deserts of the Middle East. For millennia, travellers used the stars to guide them on their journeys – a technique which, in recent decades, has been replaced by modern technology. But now the US navy is reinstating classes on celestial navigation for all new recruits, teaching the use of sextants – instruments made of mirrors used to calculate angles and plot directions – because of rising concerns that computers used to chart courses could be hacked or malfunction. “We went away from celestial navigation because computers are great,” said Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Rogers, the deputy chairman of the naval academy's Department of Seamanship and Navigation. "The problem is there's no backup." The era of celestial navigation ended with the launch of satellites in the 1990s, which evolved into the Global Positioning System (GPS). While celestial navigation can calculate your position within 1.5 miles, by 1995 GPS could pinpoint your location within feet, and the system has never been shut down. Today, 31 satellites circle the Earth, each twice a day, costing American taxpayers about $1 billion (£6.5 million) a year. "The perceived need for sextants was taken away," said Peter Trogdon, president of nautical instrument company Weems & Plath in Eastport, Maryland. Mr Trogdon, said sales of sextants plunged after the arrival of GPS. "There's only a few thousand sold a year," he said. "Most of those are sold to yachtsmen who want to have a backup." “If you can use GPS, it's just so much more accurate," said Lt. Cmdr. Ryan Rogers. But, he added, "we know there are cyber vulnerabilities." Recruits to the academy in Annapolis, Maryland, have this autumn seen study of the stars return to their curriculum for the first time since it was dropped in 2006. It was reinstated for navigators in 2011, but not for the whole navy. Pilot programmes are also beginning for army reservists in Philadelphia, Rochester and Auburn. "Knowledge of celestial navigation in the GPS era provides a solid backup form of navigation in the event GPS becomes unreliable for whatever reason," said Captain Timothy Tisch, of the US Merchant Marine Academy – which has never abandoned celestial navigation. "It is also good professional practice to use one navigational system to verify the accuracy of another." The first midshipmen to receive training were juniors this summer. From autumn next year, all newly enlisted sailors will have to study the stars and learn theories of celestial navigation during an advanced navigation course. The Class of 2017 will be the first to graduate with the reinstated instruction. “This is the first semester we added it in, so we're just baby-stepping it,” said Lt. Christine Hirsch, who teaches navigation at the academy. Only three hours will be taught. “We just added the theory, but we really do have the capabilities to expand.” Mr Trogdon said the decision was “fantastic”. "How cool is it to go back to the ancestral technique?" Poster Comment: Were my father still alive he would appreciate this story, he trained on the old Fairchild A10 sextant back in 1956. 
The era of celestial navigation ended with the launch of satellites in the 1990s 
A sextant instrument for sea navigation
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#1. To: nativist nationalist (#0)
Celestial as we do it in the Navy today is quite different from the days of Columbus. Today, we have books with star charts and positions of stars and planets based on time of day. A celestial fix can be quite precise. This is the collected knowledge of 300 years of royal and republican observatories of many, many countries gathering the data day by day, year by year. A modern celestial fix made by a skilled quartermaster or navigator is quite accurate. But it is not an easy skill to learn. Celestial was a whole semester course at Annapolis, and it was quite difficult, because while the concept is easy, the application is quite fiddly, with adjustments here and there. I recall getting a "B" in it, and sweating the load. Applying it at sea, for a novice, ranges from difficult to damn-near-impossible because the horizon is often hazy or invisible, and the ship rocks and rolls. The worse the weather, the less possible. Experienced navigators and quartermasters can do it with some rapidity and accuracy. LORAN was always popular before GPS because it's easy: you look, and it tells you. The difference between electronic navigation and celestial is the difference between driving a truck and rigging up and driving a horse-drawn coach. The concept is the same, but the old tech is a lot more challenging. It is very good that they start to teach celestial again, even though it's hard. It's good because we always knew that LORAN and the other electronic means were subject to capture and deception by sophisticated players. Now, during the Cold War, were the Soviets really going to start diverting airliners into mountains and the like? No. They were certainly a grim and redoubtable foe, but they were never batshit crazy. Jihadis are. So is the North Korean government. Back in the days of Columbus they didn't have the star tables. Celestial was much cruder then: North star, compass, local apparent noon sunlines and the like. With modern celestial, unaided by electronics, a ship could transit the Atlantic Ocean and be likely to arrive at the other side within about three nautical miles, give or take, of the intended. With 17th Century navigation, the stars let them sail West, or East, at an approximate latitude line, blown about by the winds. They'd arrive somewhere along the coast within a couple hundred miles of their destination and sail up or down the coast to get there. It was all very approximative. But even the approximative is useful, and just as every Marine is a rifleman, every naval officer ought to be taught celestial navigation, both the sophisticated kind and the rule-of-thumb kind, because even the Junior Ensign can end up in command of a lifeboat, and navigating by the stars should be the Naval equivalent of the Marine's rifle.
Seems like a good idea. The other branches should learn that skill as well. It sounds like it would be difficult to learn. Si vis pacem, para bellum Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
Precise celestial at sea using the pubs is hard, because the stars aren't labeled, and everything is moving: the horizon, the clouds, the ship itself. A precision celestial fix is a thing of beauty, but the pubs are non- intuitive. Rule-of-thumb celestial is easy - North star, sun position. I've marveled at how dependent people really are on the GPS. I look at the GPS map, but if I want to get somewhere, I just start driving the grid - North, West, South, East, etc. Keeping the basic orientation is useful. Think of the formation of Navy planes back in the 50s that went on an afternoon flight, formed up, got lost, and followed the lead due west, away from Japan's coast, until they all ran out of gas and crashed in the China sea. One would have thought that one of them would have observed that big beautiful orange sunset into the sea in front of them and thought "WAIT A MINUTE!"
I don't remember that incident. I do remember about the flight off the coast of Florida ( Bermuda Triangle ). You are right, the most basic is knowing N S W E. Years ago when I was driving a OTR truck, I tried to use GPS. It was a waste of time & money. I did a lot better with a good map, and a bit of pre trip planning & notes. Si vis pacem, para bellum Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
" pubs " = What?
Si vis pacem, para bellum Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
publications. The star charts are books published with hundreds and hundreds of pages of specific star positions at specific times. One shoots the sun, or stars with the sextant, getting the degrees above the horizon. Then one looks at the publication, and that will tell you the latitude line on which you are sailing. Latitude is easy, and accurate to within a mile or so. Longitude is harder. You generally need a clock. There is a way to do it using the moon, but all I remember about it is that it is voodoo and responsible for at least half a letter grade in my Celestial Nav course. A good celestial navigator will be within 5 miles on longitude. The publication (a nautical almanac) is necessary to figure things out.
" publications. " OK, makes sense. I should have figured that. Sorry. Thanks for the reply Si vis pacem, para bellum Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
#2. To: Vicomte13 (#1)
" US Navy returns to celestial navigation amid fears of computer hack "
#3. To: Stoner (#2)
#4. To: Vicomte13 (#3)
" Think of the formation of Navy planes back in the 50s that went on an afternoon flight, formed up, got lost, and followed the lead due west, away from Japan's coast, until they all ran out of gas and crashed in the China sea. "
#5. To: Vicomte13 (#3)
#6. To: Stoner (#5)
#7. To: Vicomte13 (#6)
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