WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

1
00:00:00.060 --> 00:00:04.340
If you have a GPS unit - in your car, in your smartphone, in whatever -

2
00:00:04.340 --> 00:00:11.340
it will almost certainly not work if you go
above 60,000 feet or go faster than 1200mph.

3
00:00:11.340 --> 00:00:12.560
And the reason...

4
00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:14.200
...is this!

5
00:00:14.200 --> 00:00:18.240
This is the Rocket Garden at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

6
00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:24.280
And those are intercontinental ballistic missiles that they strapped a person on top of

7
00:00:24.280 --> 00:00:26.100
and sent them into space.

8
00:00:26.100 --> 00:00:31.020
And when GPS was being developed by the US Department of Defense, the Cold War was still going on.

9
00:00:31.020 --> 00:00:36.460
And - well, they didn't want Soviet ICBMs to be incredibly precisely targeted.

10
00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:41.040
And so all the GPS chips that are for consumer use have this restriction in them -

11
00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:44.040
that if you go too fast or too high they will say,

12
00:00:44.040 --> 00:00:46.040
"Oh no, I am a missile!"

13
00:00:46.040 --> 00:00:47.840
And stop working.

14
00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:51.180
And the only time that this has really affected anyone is in the last few years

15
00:00:51.180 --> 00:00:56.200
as high-altitude unmanned ballooning has taken off, the kind of stratospheric weather balloons

16
00:00:56.200 --> 00:00:59.060
that take gorgeous pictures from on high.

17
00:00:59.060 --> 00:01:03.660
Because when they come down they need to be tracked, and the GPS unit suddenly thinks

18
00:01:03.660 --> 00:01:07.740
it's in the stratosphere, it must be a missile, and it shuts down.

19
00:01:07.740 --> 00:01:13.500
And the solution?  Some of these GPS units only shut down if you're going too high

20
00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:17.320
AND too fast.  Find one of those, you can use it in your balloon.

21
00:01:17.320 --> 00:01:20.800
Otherwise, it's probably best if you stay a little bit closer to Earth.

22
00:01:20.800 --> 00:01:24.040
And that is something you might not have known.

23
00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:27.980
[Translating these subtitles? Add your name here!]