Space warfare: how the military could be forced to give up GPS and return to navigating by the stars

Australia’s military is increasingly dependent on GPS but also offers celestial navigation training and is working on a range of alternative technologies. Photograph: Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images

What would happen if satellite communications were taken down by enemy action during a war?

It’s a question governments and militaries around the world are grappling with, and one of the more surprising answers is to train sailors brought up in a digital world to master extremely analog technology such as the use of sextants to navigate by the stars.