Lockheed Martin Space has handed GPS III SV10 over to the U.S. Space Force.
GPS III SV10 is intended to expand the power and precision of GPS for 6 billion global users.
GPS III SV10 was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:53 a.m. Eastern time.
GPS III SV10 will demonstrate optical communications capabilities for future GPS constellation resilience.
GPS III SV10 includes a demonstrator payload for optical crosslinks.
Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Space Force launched GPS III SV10, the last satellite in the GPS III series.
Lockheed Martin’s launch and test operations center in Denver is currently operating GPS III SV10 pending formal acceptance into the GPS operational control network.
GPS III SV10 is the fourth consecutive GPS system launch on an accelerated schedule.
GPS III SV10 is also equipped with a digital rubidium atomic clock called DASH.
GPS III SV10 has the catalog number 68791.
GPS III SV10 is named after inventor Hedy Lamarr.
GPS III SV10 is the last satellite in the GPS Block III series.
SpaceX was counting down again to the launch of the GPS III SV10 satellite after a delay from the previous day.
GPS III SV10 was reassigned from Falcon 9 to Vulcan and then back to Falcon 9.
GPS III SV10 is a U.S. Space Force spacecraft.
United Launch Alliance had planned to launch GPS III SV10 on Vulcan as its next mission.
The next Vulcan missions after USSF-87 are GPS III SV10, USSF-57, T1TR-B, and NROL-64, all scheduled in the first half of the year.
On 2021-10-26, GPS III SV10 completed a "core mate" operation to assemble it into a full space vehicle at Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Processing Facility.