Starlink shuts down its GPS-style cheat code. Researchers may unlock it anyway.
Starlink is unceremoniously shutting down a GPS-style feature that most of the Internet satellite provider’s customers probably never realized existed. But that won’t stop broader momentum toward harnessing Starlink’s satellite constellation as a navigation alternative—especially when GPS jamming and spoofing have become more widespread.
The Starlink satellite constellation owned by [SpaceX][1] is designed to provide communications services first and foremost, rather than pinpointing users’ locations like GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). However, SpaceX [publicly acknowledged][2] in a May 2025 [letter][3] to the US Federal Communications Commission that Starlink could deliver positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services. A handful of savvy Starlink customers had even been accessing Starlink PNT capability for several years until Starlink recently decided to shut down access, according to [PCMag][4].
“The beauty of Starlink as a backup to GNSS is that it's such a different system—frequencies 10 times higher, bandwidths 10 to 100 times wider, power 100 to 1,000 times stronger, satellites 100 times more proliferated,” said [Todd Humphreys][5], director of the Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) and the Radionavigation Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin, in correspondence with Ars.
[Read full article][6]
[Comments][7]
[1]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/05/spacex-is-starting-to-move-on-from-the-worlds-most-successful-rocket/
[2]: https://insidegnss.com/spacex-details-starlinks-existing-and-potential-pnt-capabilities-in-response-to-fcc-inquiry/
[3]: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1051418495002/1
[4]: https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-shuts-down-little-known-but-precise-starlink-location-function
[5]: http://ae.utexas.edu/people/faculty/faculty-directory/humphreys
[6]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/starlink-blocks-access-to-its-gps-alternative-ahead-of-spacex-ipo/
[7]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/starlink-blocks-access-to-its-gps-alternative-ahead-of-spacex-ipo/#comments
Starlink is a satellite Internet constellation operated by SpaceX, designed to provide high-speed Internet access across the globe.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/starlink-blocks-access-to-its-gps-alternative-ahead-of-spacex-ipo/
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npub1ls…2cgqv
2026-05-11 18:30:29 UTC
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npub1ls4n6xlwcglrwf667mawh047cr3lkxyevnt7lax0wywj9809xgqqg2cgqvPublished at
2026-05-11 18:30:29 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Starlink shuts down its GPS-style cheat code. Researchers may unlock it anyway.\n\nStarlink is unceremoniously shutting down a GPS-style feature that most of the Internet satellite provider’s customers probably never realized existed. But that won’t stop broader momentum toward harnessing Starlink’s satellite constellation as a navigation alternative—especially when GPS jamming and spoofing have become more widespread.\n\nThe Starlink satellite constellation owned by [SpaceX][1] is designed to provide communications services first and foremost, rather than pinpointing users’ locations like GPS and other global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). However, SpaceX [publicly acknowledged][2] in a May 2025 [letter][3] to the US Federal Communications Commission that Starlink could deliver positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services. A handful of savvy Starlink customers had even been accessing Starlink PNT capability for several years until Starlink recently decided to shut down access, according to [PCMag][4].\n\n“The beauty of Starlink as a backup to GNSS is that it's such a different system—frequencies 10 times higher, bandwidths 10 to 100 times wider, power 100 to 1,000 times stronger, satellites 100 times more proliferated,” said [Todd Humphreys][5], director of the Wireless Networking and Communications Group (WNCG) and the Radionavigation Laboratory at The University of Texas at Austin, in correspondence with Ars.\n\n[Read full article][6]\n\n[Comments][7]\n\n[1]: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/05/spacex-is-starting-to-move-on-from-the-worlds-most-successful-rocket/\n[2]: https://insidegnss.com/spacex-details-starlinks-existing-and-potential-pnt-capabilities-in-response-to-fcc-inquiry/\n[3]: https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1051418495002/1\n[4]: https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-shuts-down-little-known-but-precise-starlink-location-function\n[5]: http://ae.utexas.edu/people/faculty/faculty-directory/humphreys\n[6]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/starlink-blocks-access-to-its-gps-alternative-ahead-of-spacex-ipo/\n[7]: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/starlink-blocks-access-to-its-gps-alternative-ahead-of-spacex-ipo/#comments\n\nStarlink is a satellite Internet constellation operated by SpaceX, designed to provide high-speed Internet access across the globe.\n\n\nhttps://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/05/starlink-blocks-access-to-its-gps-alternative-ahead-of-spacex-ipo/",
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