New ‘Apollo Program’ Sought to Fend Off China in GPS Space Race

Ukrainian soldiers using American-made rocket launchers have to contend with Russian attempts to jam their satellite-guided signals, a battlefield challenge that emerging science will soon address.

But who will own that technological advantage is an open question.

The future of precision missiles, as well as drones, driverless cars, super-precise synchronized clocks, and navigation of the Moon and Mars, depends on a specialized science called geodesy, a field Americans dominated a generation ago — but have almost entirely abandoned.

And it’s a science China has embraced.

“There’s a real economic advantage, I would submit, and a national advantage ...