4- Global Positioning System-$12 billion
Global Positioning System is ranked #4 in the list with the most expensive space projects and missions.
Basically, the GPS is a space-based satellite navigation system that provides location and time information in all weather conditions, anywhere on or near Earth.
The system is used to provide critical information to military, civil and commercial users around the world.
The Global Positioning System was developed in 1973 as an upgrade for the previous navigation systems.
It was created by the U.S. Department of Defense and originally it run with 24 satellites.
The system became fully operational in 1995 and three people were credited with inventing it: Bradford Parkinson, Roger L. Easton, and Ivan A. Getting.
The costs to send the satellites used for GPS into space were estimated to be about $12 billion. But the annual operating costs for GPS come to a total of $750 million.
