Tag Archives: GPS III SV03

Space

On Its Own Power

After a successful launch this afternoon, June 30, 2020, the third Lockheed Martin-built GPS III satellite is now headed to orbit under its own propulsion. The satellite has separated from its rocket and is using onboard power to climb to its operational orbit, approximately 12,550 miles above the Earth.

Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Space Vehicle 03, launched on June 30, 2020, as it appeared in the company’s cleanroom GPS III Processing Facility

GPS III Space Vehicle 03 (GPS III SV03) is responding to commands from U.S. Space Force and Lockheed Martin engineers in the Launch & Checkout Center at the company’s Denver facility. There, they declared rocket booster separation and satellite control about 90 minutes after the satellite’s 4:10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

«In the coming days, GPS III SV03’s onboard liquid apogee engines will continue to propel the satellite towards its operational orbit», said Tonya Ladwig, Lockheed Martin’s Acting Vice President for Navigation Systems. «Once it arrives, we’ll send the satellite commands to deploy its solar arrays and antennas, and prepare the satellite for handover to Space Operations Command».

After on-orbit testing, GPS III SV03 is expected to join the GPS constellation – including GPS III SV01 and SV02, which were declared operational in January and April – in providing positioning, navigation and timing signals for more than four billion military, civil and commercial users.

Lockheed Martin designed GPS III to help the Space Force modernize the GPS constellation with new technology and capabilities. The new GPS IIIs provide three times better accuracy and up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities over any previous GPS satellite. They also offer a new L1C civil signal, which is compatible with other international global navigation satellite systems, like Europe’s Galileo, to improve civilian user connectivity.

GPS III also continues the Space Force’s plan to field M-Code, a more-secure, harder-to-jam and spoof GPS signal for our military forces. GPS III SV03 brings the number of M-Code enabled satellites to 22 in the 31-satellite GPS constellation.

«As a nation, we use GPS signals every day – they time-stamp all our financial transactions, they make aviation safe, they make precision farming possible, and so much more. GPS has become a critical part of our national infrastructure. In fact, the U.S. economic benefit of GPS is estimated to be over $300 billion per year and $1.4 trillion since its inception», added Ladwig. «Continued investment in modernizing GPS – updating technology, improving its capabilities – is well worth it».

Lockheed Martin is proud to be a part of the GPS III team led by the Space Production Corps Medium Earth Orbit Division, at the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base. The GPS Operational Control Segment sustainment is managed by the Enterprise Corps, GPS Sustainment Division at Peterson Air Force Base. The 2nd Space Operations Squadron, at Schriever Air Force Base, manages and operates the GPS constellation for both civil and military users.

Air

Third GPS III Satellite

The U.S. Air Force’s third GPS III satellite in production flow at Lockheed Martin’s advanced satellite manufacturing facility here is now fully integrated into a complete space vehicle.

The U.S. Air Force’s third GPS III satellite, GPS III SV03, is now fully integrated and ready to begin environmental tests. Lockheed Martin is in full production on ten contracted GPS III satellites at its GPS III Processing Facility near Denver
The U.S. Air Force’s third GPS III satellite, GPS III SV03, is now fully integrated and ready to begin environmental tests. Lockheed Martin is in full production on ten contracted GPS III satellites at its GPS III Processing Facility near Denver

GPS III Space Vehicle 03 (GPS III SV03) followed the first two GPS III satellites on a streamlined assembly and test production line. Technicians successfully integrated the satellite’s major components – its system module, navigation payload and propulsion core – into one fully-assembled space vehicle on August 14.

GPS III SV03 was assembled in Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Processing Facility, a $128 million, cleanroom factory designed in a virtual reality environment to drive efficiency and reduce costs in satellite production. Now fully assembled, the third satellite is being prepared to begin environmental testing.

GPS III SV03 closely follows the company’s second satellite in production flow. GPS III SV02 completed integration in May, finished acoustic testing in July and moved into thermal vacuum testing in August. The second GPS III satellite is expected to be delivered to the U.S. Air Force in 2018.

The fourth GPS III satellite is close behind the third. Lockheed Martin received the navigation payload for GPS III SV04 in October and the payload is now integrated with the space vehicle. The satellite is expected to be integrated into a complete space vehicle in January 2018.

In August, Lockheed Martin technicians began major assembly work on GPS III SV05.

All of these satellites are following Lockheed Martin’s first GPS III satellite, GPS III SV01, through production flow. In September, the Air Force accepted and declared GPS III SV01 «Available For Launch», with launch expected in 2018.

«GPS III is the most powerful and complex GPS satellite ever designed and built, and it’s now into a smooth production flow. The real credit goes to the Air Force for all the Back to Basics work done in advance, reducing program risk for all the GPS III satellites going forward», said Mark Stewart, Lockheed Martin’s vice president for Navigation Systems. «We are looking forward to bringing GPS III’s advanced capabilities to our warfighters in 2018».

Lockheed Martin is under contract for ten next generation GPS III satellites as part of the Air Force’s modernized Global Positioning System. GPS III will have three times better accuracy and up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities. Spacecraft life will extend to 15 years, 25 percent longer than the newest GPS satellites on-orbit today. GPS III’s new L1C civil signal also will make it the first GPS satellite to be interoperable with other international global navigation satellite systems.

Lockheed Martin’s unique GPS III satellite design includes a flexible, modular architecture that allows for the insertion of new technology as it becomes available in the future or if the Air Force’s mission needs change. Satellites based off this design are already proven compatible with both the Air Force’s next generation Operational Control System (OCX) and the existing GPS constellation.

The GPS III team is led by the Global Positioning Systems Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. Air Force Space Command’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS), based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, manages and operates the GPS constellation for both civil and military users.