Update May 30, 3:14 PM EDT: Spacex confirmed the deployment of GPS III-7 SV-08 spacecraft.
The latest joint of the United States’s Global Positioning System (GPS) Nakshatra launched the middle earth on Friday afternoon, passing through the area of some season thunderstorms.
GPS III-7 Space Vehicle 08 (SV-08) launched the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canveral Space Force Station with a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The liftoff took place at 1:37 pm (1737 UTC), at the end of the 15 -minute window.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1juq-fd6c
During a prelonch news briefing on Wednesday, launch Weather Officer Mark Burger said that there was a possibility of 45 percent for the favorable season for launch on Friday. The approach remained unchanged on Thursday, but began to improve on Friday.
Burger said, “We will be looking close to those commissary cloud violations and related thunderstorms.” “One thing that is working in our favor is that the day of the day is not as bad as we will see in this pattern in the day or evening later. Therefore, despite the relatively high POV, again, again [probability of violating weather rules]I suspect that there is a good chance that we will get some opportunities to work on the least launch day. ,
Luck got out of his side as SpaceX flew his Falcon 9 First Stage Booster, Tail Number B1092 for his fourth flight on this mission. It first launched Starlink 12-13, NROL-69 and CRS-32 missions.
About 8.5 minutes after the liftoff, the B1092 landed on the droneship, ‘Lack of gravitas.’ It marked the 111st booster landing on that vessel and the 454th landing to date.
Like the previous GPS mission, the second stage of Falcon 9 will have a gray band, which helps regulate the thermal temperature of the proponent tank. It is used for missions that require an extended coast phase or they will spend long periods in the shade of the Earth or in direct sunlight.
“It goes back to our first launch, when we were searching for all these different options with SpaceX before our first launch,” launched the execution division within the possibility of the space system command, director and head of the mission of Falcon Systems and Operations.
“In the areas where we were concerned that we had shared with them, there was a lot about a long coast, it was able to ensure that we had proper thermal conditions for the missions. And it has been a great journey simultaneously that has created the ability that SpaceX is able to use for many customers. So we are really happy with partnership.”
Rapid rhythm
The SV -08 mission came in less than one and a half years after the launch of the launch of the last third generation GPS satellite, SV -07. That mission is initially known as the Rapid Response Trailblazer or RRT-1, a relatively low change to get the mission to launch from the contract.
Typically, there may be 18 to 24 months to reach the launch pad from the initial launch award in a government mission. The SV -07 was transferred from a United Launch Alliance Vulcan Rocket to Falcon 9 because by the middle of last year, the Vulcan was still not certified to launch the National Security Mission and the space force wanted to get that GPS capacity in the fleet.
In turn, Ula will launch SV-10 instead of Spacex.
Commander of Mission Delta 31 at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, Col. Andrew Menschener said that the biggest lesson learned from RRT-1 was the possibility of improving the National Security Launch deadline, especially for something like the GPS program.
“We passed through a process of maximizing our efficiency and we thought we have performed very well for a five -month timeline. And then we saw ourselves and said, ‘We can do better,” said Menschener. “And therefore, this, what you see today is just the development of the same and we are taking it down for only more than three months.”
GPS III satellite manufacturer, Lockheed Martin received a letter carrying SV -08 satellite out of storage on 21 February and a call was sent to SpaceX on March 7.
“I would say somewhat tongue-in-in compared to SV-07, it was, I would say, a relatively low-punished route to launch, mainly due to the challenges faced by us on SV-07, whether it is ground transportation or RRT climate,” said the navigation system for Loched Martin.
During the previous mission, they had to receive the C -17 plane flight and pivot for ground transport as those aircraft were being used in a storm response. At that time there was a need to create a new, safe ground path while looking at storms in Florida.
Generally, it may take four to five months to prepare the satellite before transporting a GPS satellite from storage. This is because when they are in storage, they are not fully integrated.
So they had to fully integrate the vehicle with facilities like solar arrays, which are stored separately from the rest of the vehicle, and before the ship undergo operating checkouts, like electrical and mechanical testing. Then once in Florida, it had to undergo other processing, such as attaching a payload adapter, encountering it to the fairing and transporting it to the launch pad.
Musavir said, “The way we are at every step, where we can get opportunities to accelerate, it is the key to intensifying that speed even more.” “To have open communication with our government team, to ensure that we know about the needs of the launch, that integration and test curve and are ahead of the testing curve and recur on each of those procedures and improves how we can test rapidly, test better, integrate fast and intensify how we can really get a fast time.”
Littleton, Colorado has two remaining GPS III satellites in storage in the facilities of Lockheed Martin, which are to be launched on Ula Valcon rockets. Lodardel said that at this time “SpaceX has no plans to re -submit those missions.”
Add flexibility
31 It is important to obtain this next GPS satellite in class as part of the constellation of 31 existing satellites as SV -08 includes military codes or M -code capabilities. It is additional software that prevents the satellite from interfering with communication and spuofing efforts.
Currently, 24 of the GPS satellites in the classroom have this capacity, which was a requirement for space force, but according to the report of the Government Accountable Office (GAO) on GPS modernization as per June 2023, according to the report, it was determined that “at least three and more to meet some user requirements for accurates.
SV-07 was 25th M-Code-Saksham Satellite and SV-08 would be 26th. SV-09 was declared “available for launch” in August 2022 and has been waiting for the launch ever since.
The Ula is ready to launch its first National Security Mission with its Vulcan Rocket, USSF-106, not earlier than this summer, after the launch of Kuper Atlas 02 mission in mid-June. There is at least another National Security Mission for Ula before the SV-09 flight, so it is not clear when it will be launched.
Asked if the space force will try to get and receive the remaining two GPS III satellites launched this year, “We are ready to go. We will definitely postpone the priority of space force, when the vehicle should receive a ride in the classroom.”
“It is one of the things I have earlier mentioned about the foresight of the GPS III program, which is capable of qualifying on many launch providers,” said Mensner. “It gives a tremendous amount of flexibility to the space force and GPS III program. We are ready to go and we are excited whenever that opportunity comes.”
Menschener said that even before these next satellites are launched in class, they are helping to prove the flexibility of GPS III Nakshatra.
“We are trying to prove that we can quickly respond to the on-orbit failure of a vehicle, but we are now trying to show the best ways to be flexible that we have the launch deadline for a very short period,” said Mensner. “A form of flexibility is a complete vehicle in the factory and is ready to respond.
“There is another way, we should not always have a vehicle in the classroom to provide flexibility in the constellation.”
