NTS 3

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Positioning Navigation TimingGEOCOSPAR 2025-173ALaunched 8/13/2025

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Mission & Launch

Launch Mission: USSF-106
Launch Vehicle: Vulcan Centaur VC4S
Launch Date: 8/13/2025

Orbit & Mass

Orbit Class: GEO
Altitude: 35,439.5 km
Inclination: 3.24 deg
Dry Mass: 1,250 kg
Total Mass: 1,250 kg

Payload Classification

Mission Type

Mentions

All verified mentions of this spacecraft in source documents.

L3Harris Corporation will integrate NTS-3 using Northrop Grumman’s ESPAStar bus and will build on EAGLE’s flight heritage.

RelationshipsCapabilityValue 4.0Apr 18, 2024Verus® Research’s $1 Million contract monitors anomalies for Space Vehicles Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory

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The Department of the Air Force is directed to provide details on plans to transition technologies demonstrated with NTS-3 to programs of record.

PlanGovernanceValue 3.2Jun 12, 2023Space domain awareness provisions in draft NDAA proposal

The NTS-3 satellite was built by L3Harris to operate for one year in a near-geosynchronous orbit and to broadcast navigation signals from a phased array antenna.

CapabilityGeneralValue 4.3Apr 28, 2023Air Force navigation satellite experiment applying lessons from GPS

The NTS-3 program is a $250,000,000 experiment led by the Air Force Research Laboratory to deliver novel space-based positioning, navigation, and timing technologies.

GeneralFinancialCapabilityValue 4.0Apr 28, 2023Air Force navigation satellite experiment applying lessons from GPS

AFRL will use commercial ground antennas for NTS-3 to increase opportunities for contact time while reducing dependence on government antennas.

CapabilityPlanValue 3.8Apr 28, 2023Air Force navigation satellite experiment applying lessons from GPS

The NTS-3 ground control system was developed by Parsons Corporation and will be operated at the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate headquarters at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

RelationshipsCapabilityGeneralValue 4.0Apr 28, 2023Air Force navigation satellite experiment applying lessons from GPS

The U.S. Air Force plans to launch NTS-3 in fiscal year 2024 to begin testing an end-to-end space-based prototype across space, ground, and user equipment segments.

PlanCapabilityValue 4.5Apr 28, 2023Air Force navigation satellite experiment applying lessons from GPS

The software-defined radio technology used in NTS-3 receivers will provide operators access to NTS-3 and GPS signals along with additional anti-jam and anti-spoof protections.

CapabilityGeneralValue 4.0Apr 28, 2023Air Force navigation satellite experiment applying lessons from GPS

NTS-3 is scheduled to launch as a 1,250-kilogram secondary payload on USSF-106, a national security space mission assigned to United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket.

PlanGeneralCapabilityValue 4.0Apr 28, 2023Air Force navigation satellite experiment applying lessons from GPS

Parsons won the NTS-3 ground system contract in 2017 and L3Harris received the NTS-3 satellite contract in 2018.

RelationshipsValue 4.5Apr 28, 2023Air Force navigation satellite experiment applying lessons from GPS

NTS-3 will broadcast positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) signals from geostationary Earth orbit.

CapabilityGeneralValue 4.0Feb 27, 2023Air Force navigation satellite to launch on Vulcan’s first national security mission

The Air Force Research Laboratory funded the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3).

RelationshipsFinancialValue 4.0Feb 27, 2023Air Force navigation satellite to launch on Vulcan’s first national security mission

NTS-3 will seek to demonstrate next-generation PNT technologies for the U.S. military and provide an alternative to GPS.

PlanCapabilityValue 4.0Feb 27, 2023Air Force navigation satellite to launch on Vulcan’s first national security mission

NTS-3 is an experiment funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory to broadcast positioning, navigation, and timing signals from geostationary Earth orbit.

CapabilityFinancialValue 4.0Jan 27, 2023Satellite billed as the ‘future GPS’ begins key tests

The 1,250-kilogram NTS-3 satellite was built by L3Harris under an $84,000,000 contract awarded in 2018 by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

RelationshipsFinancialCapabilityValue 5.0Jan 27, 2023Satellite billed as the ‘future GPS’ begins key tests

L3Harris built NTS-3 on a Northrop Grumman ESPAStar commercial bus.

CapabilityRelationshipsValue 4.0Jan 27, 2023Satellite billed as the ‘future GPS’ begins key tests

The Air Force plans to launch NTS-3 on the USSF-106 mission, which is projected to be the first national security launch by United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket.

PlanGeneralValue 4.0Jan 27, 2023Satellite billed as the ‘future GPS’ begins key tests

The Air Force estimated that about 20 NTS-3 satellites would be needed to provide global PNT coverage.

PlanGeneralValue 3.0Jan 27, 2023Satellite billed as the ‘future GPS’ begins key tests

AFRL and MITRE Corp. developed a reprogrammable software-defined receiver that will allow users to receive both legacy GPS and the new NTS-3 signals.

CapabilityPlanValue 4.2Jan 27, 2023Satellite billed as the ‘future GPS’ begins key tests

L3Harris delivered the Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3) to the U.S. Air Force on 2023-01-26.

RelationshipsCapabilityValue 4.3Jan 27, 2023Satellite billed as the ‘future GPS’ begins key tests