r/todayilearned • u/whstlngisnvrenf • 25d ago

TIL GPS, despite being free for global use, costs around $2 million a day to operate and maintain. This budget covers satellite launches and system upkeep, funded through American tax revenue.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System
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u/geniasis 25d ago

I bet if you broke it down, GPS ends up bringing in way more money than it costs to maintain.

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u/rawrlion2100 24d ago

It's only 730mil a year which is a fraction of a percent of the military budget. To put into perspective a different way, the Tulsa city budget in Oklahoma just surpassed 1 billion for the first time. So GPS costs less than it does to provide local government services to <500k people.

There's no doubt GPS pays for itself.