Thermal Vacuum testing verifies that a satellite can operate in space’s extreme environment. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)
With GPS III SV01 and SV02 now on orbit, GPS III satellites continue to roll off the production line at Lockheed Martin’s GPS III Processing Facility near Denver.
Johnathon Caldwell, Lockheed Martin Space’s vice president for navigation systems, provided GPS World with an update to the entire GPS III family.
SV01. The first GPS III satellite is in a holding state pending readiness by 2SOPS [the Second Space Operations Squadron] to take the vehicle onto the system for operational checkout, a transfer expected to take place later this year, Caldwell explained. The satellite completed on-orbit testing in July.
“We’re in the process of getting the 2SOPS crews trained up to operate a GPS III vehicle,” Caldwell said. “By the end of this year, they will be able to take [SV01] into the constellation and start flying it as a live, set-healthy vehicle.”
SV02. Launched Aug. 22, SV02 is following in the footsteps of its older sibling, with a quiet checkout and no major findings. Like SV01, once it completes testing, it will stay in temporary holding until 2SOPS is ready to bring it into the constellation.
SV03. On May 27, the Air Force declared SV03 available for launch. It is now in final preparations for shipment, with an expected launch date in January 2020 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.
SV04. The Air force declared SV04 available for launch; it is now in storage awaiting a launch date.
SV05. The fifth satellite is wrapping up environmental tests. Lockheed Martin anticipates that it will be available for launch early next year.
SV06. The satellite has been moved into the thermal vacuum testing chamber and begun a rigorous testing campaign before it meets the harsh environment of space.
SV07, SV08 and SV09 are on the assembly line.
GPS IIIF Satellites. In 2018, the Air Force selected Lockheed Martin to build up to 22 GPS IIIFs, adding new features and resiliency to the original GPS III satellite design. The company has been on the path to meet the critical design review for the GPS IIIF spacecraft, which is due to take place next spring.
Plus an update on GPS III satellites in production
Editor Alan Cameron talked with Johnathon Caldwell, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of navigation systems.
Tell us about the on-orbit performance of the GPS III SV01, launched in December.
On Jan. 8 we began broadcasting navigation data across all signal chains, and the satellite has been in checkout mode since then. According to all the reports I get from various independent agencies, the vehicle has been performing outstanding, and the payload performance has been exceeding expectations.
We’ve been evaluating in depth how the payload performs, including independent agencies assessing the signal quality. Later this fall we’ll transition satellite ground control from the OCX Block 0 ground control system installed at Lockheed Martin’s Waterton Launch & Check Out facility over to the GPS Operational Control Segment (OCS) the 2SOPS is using now, and we’ll really see the performance improving from where it is today.
“We’re certainly at the top end of what
we thought we might be able to achieve
in terms of signal accuracy.”
The satellite is doing what everybody had hoped. There’s always great anticipation when a new system goes up. It’s actually been a very smooth on-orbit test campaign. We’re wrapping up on the early side; we’ll be ready to transition into the OCS this fall.
This past December we completed a major Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP) 7.5 OCS upgrade. This included both hardware and software upgrades to the legacy control system, and the Contingency Operations (COps) upgrade is coming later this fall. This is the software upgrade that will let OCS fly this first GPS III satellite and let the Air Force take advantage of great new capabilities. We will deliver the upgrade in May; it will get packaged up and delivered into the OCS in the fall. SV01 will then move from Lockheed Martin’s Waterton launch and checkout facility control to Air Force 2SOPS control and join the constellation on the OCS.
A GPS satellite doesn’t do its mission by itself. It takes an entire system to run. You’re always monitoring signal quality and tweaking things to get the optimal performance. Today, we’re flying SV01 by itself. The OCS and the 2SOPS crew will start flying it like they do the others, giving it the daily update and looking at the signal quality and maximizing the performance.
We’re certainly at the top end of what we thought we might be able to achieve in terms of signal accuracy.
And GPS III SV02 has shipped to the Cape.
We’ve wrapped up functional testing; it’s in great shape. We’re now in a quiet period prior to final review leading up to fueling decisions in May for a planned July launch.
Using the Delta IVb rocket for SV02 offers a good opportunity to demonstrate the wide range of launch vehicles that GPS III is capable of. The satellite has great compatibility across platforms, a flexibility that’s a benefit for the Air Force.
The factory was also getting pretty full so it was great to ship out SV02. When it gets to the end of the line and ready to go, you want to get it out and have it doing the mission it’s designed to do.
GPS III production line. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)
How about the production status of SVs 03 through 10 on the factory line?
SV03 has gone through complete environmental tests and is ready for delivery to the Air Force later this spring. SV04 is in final environmental test and will deliver later this year. SV05 is in thermal vacuum (TVAC) testing now, and doing an outstanding job. TVAC is the hardest test we go through, and it’s as if it’s flying in the environment of space. It’s the stress test. SV06 is put together, and now in its initial functional testing.
There aren’t many production lines of this size of large satellites. It’s very impressive. As you look down the line, our high bay is modeled after the best of production lines. Hardware and avionics and power systems are coming in as piece parts, getting built in. As you go down the bay, the vehicles are getting more and more complete. Now on the front end of the line we’ve got SV07 and SV08 starting. SV09 will begin later this summer, and not long after we hope to open up space for the 10th vehicle.
Last words: Progress so far on GPS IIIF?
We’re now in the full design campaign for the follow-on satellites that will lead to critical design review, the capstone of the process. The CDR will wrap up in February 2020.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket orbited the first GPS III satellite on Dec. 23, 2018. (Photo: USAF)
After several launch delays, the first GPS III satellite successfully deployed from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, rising from Cape Canaveral on Dec. 23.
By Jan. 2, the satellite had circularized its orbit at an altitude of 12,550 miles to begin a period of checkout and testing that could last up to 18 months, before entering service. The satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, will serve in space for 15 years.
Known as GPS III SV01 and nicknamed “Vespucci,” it is the first in a new generation of GPS navigation stations with improved services and longer lifetimes to ensure the U.S. military-run network remains available to troops and civil users around the world for decades to come.
“Launch is always a monumental event, and especially so since this is the first GPS satellite of its generation launched on SpaceX’s first national security space mission,” said Lt. Gen. John Thompson, commander of the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center and the Air Force’s program executive officer for space. “As more GPS III satellites join the constellation, it will bring better service at a lower cost to a technology that is now fully woven into the fabric of any modern civilization.”
The satellite’s earlier scheduled launch date of Dec. 18 was scrubbed, reportedly due to liquid oxygen thermal limit constraints aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket’s first stage reaching safety limits.
A second attempt on Dec. 19 was also ruled out due to ongoing evaluations into the sensor issue. Then ensued three days of weather delay, awaiting favorable wind conditions, until Dec. 23.
After several delays, the first GPS III satellite has successfully deployed from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 8:51 a.m. EST on Dec. 23. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)
GPS III SV01 was originally scheduled to ride aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV M+ rocket. ULA and its prime partners, Lockheed-Martin and Boeing, have conducted every GPS satellite launch since the start of the program. However, due to an assortment of issues variously involving delayed technology development and lawsuits regarding competitive bidding, the Air Force re-opened the contract process as part of its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program — “evolved” signifying that the rocket can be recovered and reused.
Recycling Rockets. ULA did not bid on the re-opened contract, citing concerns over the selection process and potential risks with the anticipated lower launch cost. In 2016, the Air Force selected SpaceX to take over most GPS III launches.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 for this launch used a new first stage core, the B1054. Although it has re-use capability, it flew in an expendable configuration this time, with no landing legs and no grid fins. It was disposed of into the Atlantic Ocean after separation from the second stage.
In other missions, after the satellite-bearing stage separates from the rest of the rocket, the remaining core launcher fires additional fuel to return intact to land or to sea aboard an Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS), a converted barge awaiting in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.
New Generation. The GPS III constellation, once fulfilled, will bring three times better accuracy and up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities. Spacecraft life will extend to 15 years, 25 percent longer than GPS satellites on-orbit today. GPS III’s new L1C civil signal also will make it the first GPS satellite broadcasting a compatible signal with other international global navigation satellite systems, like Galileo, improving connectivity for civilian users.
Lockheed Martin developed GPS III and manufactured GPS III SV01 at its GPS III Processing Facility near Denver. In September 2017, the Air Force declared the satellite “Available for Launch” (AFL) and had the company place it into storage.
In 2018, the Air Force called the satellite to Florida, and it was delivered on Aug. 20. At that time, the Air Force declared the second GPS III AFL and in November called it up for 2019 launch. GPS III satellites SV03-08 are now in various stages of assembly and test.
After several delays, the first GPS III satellite has successfully deployed from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 8:51 a.m. EST on Dec. 23. The satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, will serve in space for 15 years.
Ten days following the launch, the satellite will circularize its orbit at an altitude of 12,550 miles to begin a period of checkout and testing that could last up to 18 months, before entering service in the GPS constellation providing navigation and timing signals worldwide.
The satellite, known as GPS III SV01 and nicknamed “Vespucci” after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, is the first in a new generation of GPS navigation stations designed with improved services and longer lifetimes to ensure the U.S. military-run network remains available to troops, pilots, sailors and the public for decades to come.
“Launch is always a monumental event, and especially so since this is the first GPS satellite of its generation launched on SpaceX’s first national security space mission,” said Lt. Gen. John Thompson, commander of the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center and the Air Force’s program executive officer for space. “As more GPS III satellites join the constellation, it will bring better service at a lower cost to a technology that is now fully woven into the fabric of any modern civilization.”
Ground System
The U.S. Air Force used Raytheon Company’s GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System, known as GPS OCX, to support the launch. Following launch, GPS OCX will maneuver the GPS III satellite into its final orbit, a process that takes the ground control system 10 days to accomplish.
Ground antenna at Schriever Air Force Base, home of the 50th Space Wing. (Photo: Raytheon)
“The GPS OCX Block 0 launch and checkout system is foundational to the improved precision, navigation and timing of the entire constellation,” said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. “And we’ll all benefit from the system’s unprecedented level of cybersecurity protections.”
The fully modernized GPS OCX Block 0 launch and checkout system will support the launch of future GPS III satellites, enabling the introduction of a new civil signal, enhanced military signals, and anti-jam capabilities.
The ground system has achieved the highest level of cybersecurity protections of any Department of Defense space system, and its open architecture allows it to integrate new capabilities and signals as they become available, ensuring continued protection against future cyber threats.
In addition to GPS OCX’s role, RGNext, a joint venture between Raytheon and General Dynamics IT, provided operational launch support to ensure the safe launch of the Falcon 9 rocket that was carrying the GPS III satellite. RGNext operates the launch range on behalf of the U.S. Air Force, providing maintenance, range safety, weather monitoring, communication and surveillance support for all launches conducted by defense, civil and commercial companies at the range.
After several delays, the first GPS III satellite has successfully deployed from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 8:51 a.m. EST on Dec. 23. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket orbited the first GPS III satellite on Dec. 23, 2018. (Photo: USAF)
The U.S. Air Force has declared the first Lockheed Martin-built GPS III satellite “available for launch,” (AFL) ushering in a new era of advanced GPS technology.
The Air Force’s “AFL” declaration is the final acceptance of Lockheed Martin’s first GPS III Space Vehicle (GPS III SV01) before its expected 2018 launch. GPS III SV01 will bring new capabilities to U.S. and allied military forces, and a new civil signal that will improve future connectivity worldwide for commercial and civilian users.
GPS III SV01 now awaits a call up to begin pre-launch preparations. In the meantime, the advanced satellite is stored in an environmentally controlled clean room, where engineers can perform maintenance and continue to service the satellite.
New GPS Capabilities
The U.S. Air Force declared the first Lockheed Martin-built, next-generation GPS III satellite “Available for Launch” in 2018. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)
GPS III SV01 is the first space vehicle of an entirely new satellite design. GPS III is a next generation technology and capability leap over any of the 31 GPS Block II satellites that currently populate today’s operational GPS constellation.
Better accuracy. For military forces, precision is essential. GPS III signals will provide them three times more accuracy than any current GPS satellites. How accurate is that? We cannot get specific, but stretch your arms out, we are within that range now.
Improved anti-jam. It is no secret that future adversaries will try to nullify tools like GPS that give our military an edge in conflicts. GPS III’s powerful new signals have eight times improved anti-jamming capability, and the satellites’ nearly 70 percent digital payload will provide the Air Force with greater operational flexibility.
Stronger design. Space is a tough neighborhood and GPS III is built tough. GPS III comes with a more resilient design and a design life which can expand its operational life to 15 years. That’s 25 percent longer than the newest GPS satellites on-orbit today.
New civil signal. GPS III will be the first GPS satellite broadcasting L1C, a new, common signal being adopted by other international Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), like Europe’s Galileo. In the future, users of civilian GPS receivers will be able to connect to L1C from multiple GNSS constellations, allowing for greater connectivity.
Designed for the Future
One of the keys to Lockheed Martin’s GPS III is it was designed for today’s mission with an eye on tomorrow’s needs.
“As we designed GPS III, we knew that mission needs would change in the future and that new technology will become available,” said Mark Stewart, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Navigation Systems mission area. “We wanted the satellite to be flexible to adapt to those changes. To do that, we intentionally developed GPS III with a modular design. This allows us to easily insert new technology into our production line.”
Future satellites — already with a robust, production-ready design — also would benefit from the inherent risk-reductions already proven out in GPS III, like compatibility with OCX and the existing GPS constellation. Significant work has already been completed on future requirements like an accuracy-improving Laser Retro-reflector Array and a Search and Rescue payload.
For Lockheed Martin, the completion of GPS III SV01 is a major milestone on a challenging development program to design and build the most powerful GPS satellites ever envisioned. With all major development risks behind them, the company is now in full production on ten GPS III satellites at its GPS III Processing Facility near Denver.
“Lockheed Martin’s GPS III team owes much of its success to the Air Force’s Back to Basics program,” Stewart added. “We are proud to partner with the Air Force on this important program and look forward to launching the first GPS III satellite in 2018.”
The GPS III team is led by the Global Positioning Systems Directorate at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. Air Force Space Command’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2SOPS), based at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, manages and operates the GPS constellation for both civil and military users.
