Want to buy GPS? Think again

APTYP said:
Aren't satellites using Earth's magnetic field to navigate and to shield themselves from ionizing radiation?
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Hmm, very possibly, I hadn't thought that far into it. So, there may be a connection between the two, but I would think that in 2000 years the satellites "powering" GPS will have changed somewhat.
 
APTYP said:
A more likely explanation is simply "new" species evolving rapidly on a new niche that was once occupied by now obsolete species that die out. No mutation or alien intervention bullcrap.
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Mutation and evolution are the same thing, in the context of this debate. New species evolve by accumulating mutations from previous ones. Natural selection states that mutations occur in the individual, and that that mutation is passed along only if it makes the individual more capable of reproducing in the organisms environment, which can and does change. .

Increased radiation disadvantages populations because of increased cancer rates, etc, making them live shorter lives, as a population. But the same cellular level mutation that causes cancer can cause somatic mutation in germ cells, all by affecting base changes in DNA. If these mutations allow the next generation to survive and reproduce more successfully, the mutation is passed along and is now, for all intents and purposes, an evolutionary adaptation. Most of the time mutations are deleterious or at best inert, but once in a while (the exact ratio is unknown, AFAIK, but varies with lots of factors) a mutation is advantageous.

A planet with a high natural radiation level would see a faster rate of mutation, so faster rate of evolution. A long as the radiation allows creatures to reproduce before the individual dies from accumulated diseases caused by that same radiation of course..

A planet like earth that loses it magnetic field every so often would see bursts of evolution, caused by mutation, followed by periods of relative slow evolution. Evolution is not a static process either, as evidenced by increased mutation (and hence evolution) rates in the flora and fauna of irradiated places, like Chernobyl and Pipshit's ass.

And I've never heard of satellies using magnetic fileds to navigate, esp since most satellites have static or stationary orbits and never move once positioned in orbit. Nor do I know about shilding from cosmic radiation, per se. The shielding is just a side effect of orbiting earth, and I suppose the delicate electronics would need extra shielding to survive EM pulses produced by solar mass ejections and the like if the magnetic field wasn't there. In any case, both of these things are beside the point that GPS satellites do not interact with the magnetic field to perfrom their primary purpose. And kudos Big T UK.
 
Satellite's life span is limited by how much radiation it can receive. At some point it just stops working. That's why the last coronal mass ejection was expected to bring down communications and shut down orbital satellites.
 
APTYP said:
Satellite's life span is limited by how much radiation it can receive. At some point it just stops working. That's why the last coronal mass ejection was expected to bring down communications and shut down orbital satellites.
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What do you mean? do you mean the last as in one tht just happened, or the last as in the last we know of before it fires all electronics on earth? Anyway, research is under way to predict ejections so that satellites and the like can be turned off and buffered to prevent just this occurance.

I'm starting to feel like a parent who kid always asks "why?", having fun APTYP? :lol:
 
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