Late Friday night, SpaceX is preparing to launch a newly upgraded GPS satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida for the US Space Force – the latest spacecraft designed to modernize the existing GPS fleet. It will be the fourth GPS satellite of its kind to be launched in the last three years, and the third will be launched by SpaceX.
The flight has satellite GPS III SV04, which will become one of the 31 primary GPS satellites in orbit. The vehicle is part of a new block of GPS III spacecraft to replace current aging GPS vehicles. Created by Leheid Kahid Martin, these GPS III satellites are believed to be three times more accurate than their predecessors and have more advanced “anti-jamming” capabilities to intercept cyberetex, thanks to a new M-code signal embedded in the satellite.
The GPS III satellites are intended to be more user friendly for civilians. The vehicles play a new “civil signal” that allows them to more easily interact with other satellite navigation systems in space, especially the more than two dozen spacecraft in the constellation Galileo in Europe. This way, there will be more potential spacecraft overhead at any time that citizens and business users want to tap into the system.
This has been a slow process of initiating GPS III replacements, marked by technical and testing delays, as well as COVID-19 epidemic-related delays. However, Lockheed Martin says a fifth satellite is set to await its launch date. Meanwhile, five more GPS III satellites are under construction, and three of them are fully built and running tests, according to the company. Once GPS III SV04 is launched, up to 12 percent of the current GPS constellation will include new satellites.
From Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida to the top of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, GPS Takeoff of III SV04 is scheduled for 9:43 PM ET. SpaceX is using a completely new Falcon 9 rocket for the job, although just last week the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center announced that it would allow SpaceX to launch two future GPS III satellites on the company’s used Falcon 9 rocket. For this launch, SpaceX still plans to recover the Falcon 9 following the flight and will attempt to land a rocket on one of the company’s floating drone ships in the Atlantic Ocean.
For now, the weather is fine for launching with a 70 percent chance of favorable conditions. However, the Rockets on the East Coast have struggled to launch this week, with three different vehicles delayed due to technical issues and weather problems.
Tune in tonight to see if SpaceX can break this line, and this week a rocket could land. Live coverage is scheduled to begin 15 minutes before takeoff.
