SpaceX has four additional GPS 3 launches on contract, all of which are planned to launch on Falcon 9.
The satellite launching on the 2018-12-18 GPS 3 mission is the first of 10 GPS 3 vehicles the Air Force plans to put into orbit.
SpaceX won a second GPS 3 launch contract in 2017 for $96,300,000.
Once the new GPS 3 satellite reaches orbit and completes up to 18 months of tests, it will replace an aging GPS satellite that has been in service since 1997.
The first GPS 3 mission had been originally scheduled for May 2018 but was delayed for additional testing of the Block 5 rocket.
SpaceX won an $82,700,000 contract in 2016 for the first GPS 3 mission.
The encapsulation of the GPS 3 satellite at Astrotech Space Operations was performed in preparation for a 2018-12-18 launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
The first Air Force GPS 3 satellite is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 2018-12-18.
GPS 3 SV01 is the first of 10 GPS 3 satellites originally ordered by the Air Force.
Vice President Mike Pence will be at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, to witness the 2018-12-18 launch of the first Air Force GPS 3 satellite.
Lockheed Martin is building a 10-satellite GPS 3 constellation and is under contract to manufacture up to 22 additional GPS 3F follow-on vehicles.
In September, the Air Force planned to spend up to $7,200,000,000 on the GPS 3 follow-on (GPS 3F) program to build up to 22 additional satellites.
GPS 3 provides a new L1C civil signal and will be the first GPS satellite broadcasting a signal compatible with other international global navigation satellite systems such as Galileo.
GPS 3 SV01 is the first of an entirely new GPS satellite design with three times better accuracy and up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities as provided by Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed Martin designed GPS 3 with a much stronger signal and an entirely new design intended to provide three times greater accuracy and up to eight times more anti-jamming capabilities than existing GPS satellites.
SpaceX had one more mission planned for 2018: a 2018-12-18 launch of the U.S. Air Force’s first GPS-3 satellite.
SpaceX’s remaining 2018 missions, all using Falcon 9 rockets, include Spaceflight Inc.’s SmallSat Express, the U.S. Air Force’s first GPS 3 satellite, NASA’s CRS-16 resupply mission to the International Space Station, and the final 10 Iridium Next satellites for Iridium.
SpaceX won an $82,700,000 contract in 2016 to launch a GPS-3 satellite.
SpaceX has several other missions planned for the same year including Falcon 9 launches of another 10 Iridium Next satellites, Es’hailSat’s Es’hail-2, and the U.S. Air Force’s first GPS-3 satellite.
The first of the currently in-production GPS 3 satellites is scheduled to launch on 2018-12-15, and the second is scheduled to launch in 2019.