Watch a replay of our dwell protection of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 7:24 a.m. EST (1224 GMT) on Jan. 18 from House Launch Complicated 40 at Cape Canaveral House Drive Station, Florida, with the GPS 3 SV06 navigation satellite tv for pc for the U.S. House Drive. Comply with us on Twitter.
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SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket simply after dawn Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, hauling a GPS navigation satellite tv for pc into orbit to exchange an getting older 16-year-old spacecraft within the world positioning community trusted to information every thing from army weapons to civilian commuters.
The mission was the second SpaceX launch for the U.S. House Drive in lower than three days, approaching the heels of a Falcon Heavy launch Sunday that precisely delivered two army satellites right into a high-altitude geosynchronous orbit.
The launch Wednesday used SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, and focused a considerably decrease orbit to replenish the GPS satellite tv for pc constellation circling some 12,550 miles (20,200 miles) above Earth.
The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral House Drive Station at 7:24 a.m. EST (1224 GMT) Wednesday, lower than 10 minutes after dawn on Florida’s House Coast. The launcher climbed away from pad 40 with 1.7 million kilos of thrust from its 9 kerosene-fueled Merlin engines, then headed northeast over the Atlantic Ocean.
The liftoff was delayed 14 minutes to permit time for floor groups to resolve a difficulty with the GPS navigation satellite tv for pc.
The Falcon 9 surpassed the pace of sound in a few minute, then shut down its first stage round two-and-a-half minutes into the mission. The booster indifferent and descended to a propulsive touchdown about eight minutes after liftoff on a SpaceX drone ship floating within the Atlantic just a few hundred miles east of Charleston, South Carolina.
The booster, generally known as B1077, accomplished its second flight to area, following a launch Oct. 5 with a crew of 4 heading for the Worldwide House Station. The Falcon’s first stage will return to Cape Canaveral on the drone ship for refurbishment and reuse on a future mission.
An higher stage engine took over after the booster accomplished its position on Wednesday’s launch, propelling the brand new GPS navigation satellite tv for pc right into a preliminary parking orbit earlier than coasting greater than midway all over the world for an additional engine firing to energy the payload into a better orbit.
The second burn by the higher stage positioned the GPS spacecraft into an orbit ranging between 243 and 12,528 miles (391-by-20,162 kilometers) above Earth. The orbit will take the satellite tv for pc between 55 levels north and south latitude on every lap across the planet.
The GPS 3 SV06 spacecraft deployed from the Falcon 9’s higher stage at 8:53 a.m. EST (1353 GMT), round 1 hour and 29 minutes after liftoff. A digital camera on-board the higher stage confirmed the Lockheed Martin-built satellite tv for pc flying freed from the rocket over the Pacific Ocean.
“This was a textbook launch, reflecting a extremely skilled, skilled crew executing well-honed procedures and the outcomes communicate for themselves,” mentioned Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy Jr., program government officer for House Programs Command’s ‘Assured Entry to House’ division. “Working side-by-side with our launch service supplier and area car accomplice to fulfill the mission want on-time and with precision is our regular ops. And as we speak’s mission helps not solely our world warfighters however folks everywhere in the world in each side of life.”
The GPS 3 SV06 satellite tv for pc is the sixth spacecraft within the newest technology of GPS 3-series satellite tv for pc. After separation from the Falcon 9 rocket, the spacecraft was anticipated to unfurl its power-generating photo voltaic arrays and start firing its personal engine for orbit-raising maneuvers to succeed in a last place in a round orbit roughly 12,550 miles above Earth.
The transit to the round Medium Earth Orbit will take about two weeks beneath the management of Lockheed Martin engineers in Colorado. If all goes in response to plan, the brand new satellite tv for pc, nicknamed “Earhart” after the aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart, might be transitioned to the management of House Drive operators. GPs 3 SV06 is anticipated to enter operational service just a few months after launch.
In its launch configuration absolutely fueled with propellant, the GPS 3 SV06 satellite tv for pc weighed 9,595 kilos (4,352 kilograms), in response to Col. Jung Ha, senior materiel chief for the GPS House Autos Acquisition Delta at House Programs Command.
The GPS 3 SV06 satellite tv for pc will take a place in Airplane A, Slot 2, of the GPS constellation, Ha mentioned. The brand new spacecraft will exchange a satellite tv for pc in that place that launched Sept. 25, 2006, on a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral. The getting older satellite tv for pc, generally known as SVN 52 or GPS 2R-15, has operated for twice its unique design lifetime.
The GPS satellites fly in six orbital groupings, with 4 slots in every group, for no less than 24 satellites to offer world protection. The GPS community at present has 31 operational satellites.
Liftoff of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with the US House Drive’s latest GPS navigation satellite tv for pc. https://t.co/ZXQRog4JSY pic.twitter.com/leCR9tTUYH
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) January 18, 2023
Andre Trotter, Lockheed Martin’s vp of navigation programs, mentioned the corporate has 4 extra GPS 3-series satellites prepared for “name up” by the House Drive.
“We at present have 4 extra GPS satellites in our Colorado facility which might be accessible for launch and are ready to reply the House Drive’s name,” Trotter informed reporters Tuesday in a pre-launch information convention. These satellites, numbered GPS 3 SV07 by means of SV10, are the ultimate spacecraft in Lockheed Martin’s preliminary batch of GPS 3 satellites ordered by the Pentagon in 2008.
The following GPS satellite tv for pc, GPS 3 SV07, is scheduled to launch in mid-2024 on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket. It’s a candidate to grow to be the primary nationwide safety payload to fly on ULA’s new Vulcan launch car.
Development of the primary eight GPS 3 satellites is roofed in a 2008 contract valued at $3.6 billion. The army ordered two extra GPS 3-type satellites later. The primary GPS 3 satellite tv for pc launched in 2018, and the latest mission, SV05, launched in June 2021.
Navy officers have been unable to offer a precise value for the GPS 3 SV06 spacecraft, however the common value of every satellite tv for pc within the 2008 buy quantities to roughly $600 million in inflation-adjusted {dollars}.
The sequence of GPS 3 navigation satellites are designed for 15-year life spans, an enchancment over the seven-and-a-half 12 months and 12-year design lives of previous-generation GPS satellites. The GPS 3 satellites present 3 times higher accuracy and as much as eight instances improved anti-jamming capabilities over early GPS spacecraft, in response to Lockheed Martin.
The GPS 3 satellites additionally introduce a brand new L-band civilian sign that’s suitable with different worldwide navigation satellite tv for pc networks, corresponding to Europe’s Galileo program. Combining alerts from GPS, Galileo, and different navigation satellites can enhance the precision of space-based place measurements.
The U.S. army makes use of GPS satellites for good bombs and different precision-guided munitions. Troops depend on the community, which requires a minimal of 24 satellites for world protection, to offer positioning information pole-to-pole.
Lockheed Martin gained a follow-on contract from the army in 2018 to construct as much as 22 extra upgraded GPS 3F satellites. The House Drive has positioned agency orders with Lockheed Martin for the primary 10 GPS 3F satellites, which can present the army with new capabilities corresponding to enhanced regional safety and even higher anti-jamming capabilities, an upgraded search and rescue payload, and a laser retroreflector array to assist present extra correct information on every spacecraft’s location in orbit, data that may lead to extra exact place data for customers on the bottom.
L3Harris Applied sciences builds the navigation payloads for the GPS 3 satellites.
Civilians use the International Positioning System on their smartphones, and airliners make use of augmented GPS alerts for precision landings and in-flight navigation. Banks use the timing alerts from GPS satellites to time tag monetary transactions.
“GPS has grow to be part of our crucial nationwide infrastructure,” Trotter mentioned.
ROCKETS: Falcon 9 (B1077.2)
PAYLOAD: GPS 3 SV06
LAUNCH SITES: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral House Drive Station, Florida
LAUNCH DATES: Jan. 18, 2023
LAUNCH TIME: 7:24 a.m. EST (1224 GMT)
WEATHER FORECAST: Larger than 90% likelihood of acceptable climate at Cape Canaveral
BOOSTER RECOVERY: “A Shortfall of Gravitas” drone ship
LAUNCH AZIMUTH: Northeast
TARGET ORBIT: MEO switch orbit; 250-by-12,550 miles (400-by-20,200 kilometers); 55 levels inclination
LAUNCH TIMELINE FOR GPS 3 SV06
- T+00:00: Liftoff
- T+01:12: Most aerodynamic stress (Max-Q)
- T+02:33: First stage foremost engine cutoff (MECO)
- T+02:37: Stage separation
- T+02:45: Second stage engine ignition
- T+03:30: Fairing jettison
- T+06:19: First stage entry burn ignition
- T+06:44: First stage entry burn cutoff
- T+08:08: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 1)
- T+08:09: First stage touchdown burn ignition
- T+08:33: First stage touchdown
- T+01:03:32: Second stage engine restart (SES 2)
- T+01:04:16: Second stage engine cutoff (SECO 2)
- T+01:29:17: Separation of GPS 3 SV06 satellite tv for pc
MISSION STATS:
- 197th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
- 207th launch of Falcon rocket household since 2006
- 2nd launch of Falcon 9 booster B1077
- a hundred and seventieth SpaceX launch from Florida’s House Coast
- one hundred and tenth Falcon 9 launch from pad 40
- one hundred and sixty fifth launch general from pad 40
- 139th flight of a reused Falcon booster
- sixth Lockheed Martin-built satellite tv for pc launched by SpaceX
- fifth GPS satellite tv for pc launched by SpaceX
- third Falcon 9 launch of 2023
- 4th launch by SpaceX in 2023
- 4th orbital launch from Cape Canaveral in 2023
