The U.S. Space Force initially ordered an expendable rocket for the 2021-06-17 GPS 3 mission but agreed to switch to a reused booster with the requirement that the reused booster had to be the one that flew another GPS 3 satellite to orbit last November.
The $228,000,000 contract covers work on the operational control system for the GPS 3 satellites manufactured by Lockheed Martin.
The U.S. Air Force began launching GPS 3 satellites in 2018.
The U.S. Air Force contracted Lockheed Martin to develop an interim ground control system for the GPS 3 satellites.
As of November 1, 2020, counting the 10 satellites India launched over the weekend, the GPS 3 satellite launched by SpaceX on November 5, and roughly a dozen satellites launched by a Chinese Long March 6 on November 6, the number of satellites launched in 2020 has surpassed 1,100.
A GPS 3 satellite launched by SpaceX on 2020-11-05 was the 23rd M-Code signal-enabled GPS space vehicle on orbit.
SpaceX will use previously flown boosters for the next two launches for GPS 3 Space Vehicles 5 and 6.
GPS 3 Space Vehicle 4 is the fourth satellite of the GPS 3 constellation that provides positioning, navigation, and timing signals to military and civilian users.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a U.S. Space Force GPS 3 satellite on 2020-11-05.
Lockheed Martin delivered GPS 3 Space Vehicle 4 and declared it available for launch in May 2020.
The second National Security Space Launch mission carrying a military GPS 3 satellite took place on 2020-06-30.
The 2020-11-05 launch was SpaceX’s second attempt to launch GPS 3 SV 4 after a mission abort on 2020-10-02 two seconds before liftoff.
The GPS 3 SV 4 satellite will join a constellation of 31 spacecraft that operate in medium Earth orbit at an altitude of 12,885 km in six orbital planes.
The booster recovered on 2020-11-05 will be refurbished and flown again to launch GPS 3 Space Vehicle 5 in mid-2021.
The Falcon 9 carried the Lockheed Martin-built GPS 3 Space Vehicle 4.
After the GPS 3 scrub, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 on 2020-10-06 carrying 60 Starlink satellites using a booster making its third flight.
Both the Crew-1 and the GPS 3 missions are using new Falcon 9 first stages that have not previously launched.
On 2020-06-30, SpaceX launched the third GPS 3 vehicle on a brand-new Falcon 9 booster and recovered that booster.
The Space and Missile Systems Center delayed the fifth GPS 3 launch from January to July 2021 to allow time for design validation and to understand how SpaceX refurbishes previously flown hardware.
Lockheed Martin is producing GPS 3 satellites 7 through 10.