The U.S. Air Force plans to award multiple contracts for companies to demonstrate their ability to build GPS III satellites, according to a report by Mike Gruss of Space News.
The Air Force expects to award the contracts — worth up to $6 million — during this calendar year. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver is the current GPS III satellite contractor, building the first eight GPS III satellites. The first satellite is expected to launch in 2017.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — I had the pleasure of having an early breakfast on this beautiful Colorado morning with Mark Stewart, VP and program manager at Lockheed Martin in Denver for the GPS III program. Mark was very upbeat, a normal state for him actually, and stated that GPS III SV1 was fully integrated — payload, bus and propulsion segments — on April 7, and “all is proceeding according to plan.”
“SV1 is ready to begin environmental testing at the vehicle level and there are no liens going forward,” Mark said. “There are no current issues or concerns.”
Currently, the schedule calls for SV1, per Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) mandate (read that as Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves) to process through acoustic testing to simulate the acoustics of launch and early orbit maneuvers. Then the complete vehicle will endure a rigorous thermal vacuum testing procedure that should be completed by this summer (2015).
Barring any major anomalies, I am still predicting that SV1 will be through tests by the end of this calendar year. That is not a LMCO prediction as much as it is mine. With that schedule intact, SV1 should be ready for launch by the first quarter of the calendar year 2016. Great news. I will have photos of the mated segments, which make up GPS III SV1, as soon as they are cleared for release. More later.
As I write this, the 31st Space Symposium (SS) will kickoff in just 5 days, on April 13 at the incomparable Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the foothills of the beautiful Rocky Mountains.
Neil deGrasse Tyson (courtesy of PBS)
If you haven’t figured it out already, the 31st SS is not a WWII German unit designation, but the 31st Space Symposium, which Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, famed astrophysicist, bestselling author, director of the Hayden Planetarium and host of the hugely successful television series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, simply calls “the most awesome symposium in the world.” Very high praise indeed, and a sentiment with which I totally agree.
Breaking Records
This year’s Space Symposium, which is sponsored by the Space Foundation, will be the largest ever held in terms of venue, size (number of exhibitors and speakers) and attendance. Approximately 10,000 space enthusiasts are expected to attend, and I hope you are one of them. My sources tell me the classified sessions (Cyber 1.5 and classified space sessions) are filled to overflowing — no new registrations allowed there. The exhibitor space at the Ball Aerospace Exhibit Center and Pavilion is bursting at the seams. The organizers are turning exhibitors away, so better luck next year. But if you just want to attend the greatest space symposium in the world, bar none, there is still time to register.
By the way, if you haven’t figured it out already, this is a truly international event. My sources at the Space Foundation stated that the 31st Space Symposium will have more international participation than ever, including more than 150 exhibits of the world’s latest space technology, products and services. The Ball Aerospace Exhibit Center will host more than 30 first-time exhibitors with more than a dozen countries represented, including: Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Turkey, the UK and the U.S. The symposium is expected to attract space leaders from more than 25 countries, representing all sectors of the global space community.
Everyone who is anyone in the space world will probably be there or be represented. Consequently, the networking capabilities are unparalleled. Not to mention just being able to avail yourself of the world-famous Broadmoor Resort hospitality, plus the crisp, clean and cool mountain air at 6,000 feet.
Event Preparation
For many years, the event was known as the National Space Symposium. It outgrew that moniker many years ago, and is now simply known as the Space Symposium.
Every year before I attend the Space Symposium, I make a “ToDoToDay” list of topics I want to explore, both as a journalist and in my senior space analyst profession. Plus, of course, I make a list of people I definitely want to talk with or interview. This year, I thought I would share some of those to-dos with you, because you may indeed have some of the same interests.
GPS III
Mark Stewart, Lockheed Martin GPS III program manager (courtesy of Lockheed Martin)
Wearing my subject matter expert (SME) hat, so to speak, I recently had the honor of touring the Lockheed Martin (LMCO) Space Systems facility in Waterton Canyon (far West Denver), Colorado, where the GPS III satellites are built, integrated and otherwise readied for launch. I took the opportunity to chat with Mark Stewart and his crew. Mark is vice president for manufacturing and space systems and program manager for GPS III.
I learned that the first GPS III space vehicles (SVs) is much farther along than most everyone thinks. The problematic MDU (Mission Data Unit — the heart of the system) from Exelis has been fully tested and integrated into the payload. GPS III SV1 was only three days from being totally integrated or mated, as they say, with the on-orbit propulsion portion of the payload (the remainder of the LMCO A2100 bus) and beginning its months-long testing, certification and verification process. According to Mark, GPS III SV-01 — which powered on initially in February 2013 — now is in integration and test flow leading up to final delivery to the Air Force.
While it was thrilling to see everything finally coming together, I will also tell you candidly that the next milestone everyone is asking about, the first GPS III launch date, is probably as fluid as the Snake River in Spring. So, while I do not feel comfortable quoting a first launch date, and LMCO would not give me a firm date for delivery of the first GPS III SV, I do feel comfortable making this prediction: Barring any unforeseen major issues during testing, LMCO will be ready to deliver to the U.S. government the first ready-to-launch GPS III satellite by the end of this calendar year. That’s right, in my humble opinion the first GPS III SV will be ready to deliver to the Air Force by December 2015. When it will actually be launched is anybody’s guess; obviously, the sooner the better. Apropos of the Boeing IIF initial launches and critical on-orbit anomalies, the sooner the LMCO GPS III is put into orbit for full-scale operational and mission analysis tests the better.
LADO and OCX
The critical question of course is: Will the U.S. Air Force (USAF) have a ground control system that can successfully and reliably launch and support a full-up GPS III SV by the end of 2015? Certainly not if they stay the course with OCX, but there are alternatives, and you know who you are! Can you say LADO, Launch/Early Orbit, Anomaly Resolution, Disposal and Operations System?
Consider that LADO has been utilized to launch GPS satellites as far back as the GPS IIR-M family of satellites, also produced by LMCO, one of which was successfully launched on October 17, 2007, using the then-new LADO system. That milestone ensured the GPS program continued to provide superior space-based navigation for billions of users, military, civilian and commercial, around the globe using industry-leading highly modified (Aces Premier) commercial launch technology. This significant achievement was the culmination of outstanding teamwork between the USAF, Braxton Technologies, the engineering firm and the prime contractor.
The LADO system formed and is still the backbone of the new GPS Command and Control (C2) functionality implemented by the prime contractor. It known today as the Advanced Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP). Subsequently, LADO is now the primary launch system for all current and future (IIR-M, IIF and possibly GPS III) satellites, which should allow the U.S. Air Force to retire some outdated legacy GPS ground support and command and control systems.
The first successful 2007 LADO launch and control of an operational GPS IIR-M satellite, and the 1SOPS and 2SOPS operators’ acceptance of the GPS LADO system, was proof that commercial software can be deployed effectively even in a militarily critical mission system, saving the government both cost and schedule without sacrificing mission-unique capabilities.
In my humble opinion, that is where we need to go today. Let’s return to the tried-and-true LADO and prime contractor partnership and launch the first GPS III SV by the end of this year, or certainly by early 2016. Please notice I have not made any statements concerning scrapping the hugely expensive, 100-percent-over-budget-and-schedule (years behind) OCX program of record. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USDATL) Frank Kendall recently announced the controversial decision that OCX as the program of record would go forward under strict scrutiny with definite milestones that must be met. Scrutiny is a fickle mistress, and historically on the OCX program, milestones are there to be missed. Meanwhile, the USAF requires a tried, proven and utterly reliable capability to launch GPS III SVs as soon as the first few become available. The USAF must place several GPS IIIs on orbit for a full checkout to ensure there are no major anomalies. Currently, LADO had an eight-year proven track record with no failures, and it remains the only program that can initiate, control and dispose of residual GPS satellites — including the IIAs, which are the longest lived GPS satellites on orbit today.
Beware, there will be many naysayers in government circles, and you may meet some of them at the symposium, that will tell you it is just not possible. But just stop by and talk candidly with LMCO Space Systems and Braxton Technologies personnel, and see what they have to say. You may be surprised by what you hear.
Then stop by the Raytheon booth and check on the status of OCX.
Lynn Dugle (courtesy of Raytheon)
Female Executives in the News
Speaking of OCX and Raytheon, Lynn Dugle retired from Raytheon on March 2, 2015. Historically, Lynn has been a very capable executive. She is the former president of Raytheon’s Intelligence, Information and Services (IIS) business, which handles several key U.S. Air Force space contracts, including OCX, the current program of record for the next-generation ground system for GPS III. Dugle served as president of the division beginning in 2009.
David Wajsgras (your guess is as good as mine), Raytheon’s former senior vice president (SVP) and chief financial officer (CFO), has replaced Dugle. Wajsgras served as SVP and CFO of Raytheon Company from March 2006 to March 2015.
David Wajsgras (courtesy of Raytheon)
As a member of Raytheon’s senior leadership team, he directed Raytheon’s overall financial strategy. In my humble opinion, he has his work cut out for him. He will need all of his financial expertise and acumen to make OCX a success — financially and, hopefully, operationally. The program is grossly over budget, several years behind schedule, and reportedly, my sources tell me, far less capable than originally planned. Good luck, David.
As long as we are still speaking primarily of female executives with great track records, USAF Lieutenant General Ellen Pawlikowski, who I have had the honor of knowing and working with for the past 25 years, was recently nominated for her fourth star. General Pawlikowski successfully commanded the SMC (Space and Missile Systems Center) and served as Program Executive Officer (PEO) for Space for three years at Los Angeles Air Force Base in California. Among her many successful space acquisition programs, she was responsible for GPS procurement during her tenure.
Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, USAF (courtesy of the USAF)
Currently, General Pawlikowski serves on the East Coast in the Pentagon as the military deputy to William LaPlante, Ph.D., the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition. In other words, LaPlante is the Air Force’s Service Acquisition Executive, responsible for all Air Force research, development and acquisition activities. Previously, just to add to her mystique, General Pawlikowski spent more than one tour at the super secret National Reconnaissance Office.
When confirmed, General Pawlikowski will be only the third female four-star general in U.S. Air Force history. A well-deserved honor and one that certainly merits acknowledgement. General Pawlikowski is scheduled to speak several times at the Space Symposium, so when you see her, congratulate her on a job well done and on being nominated for her fourth star, and wish her luck in her new assignment as the head (four-star commander) of Air Force Materiel Command.
Before we leave the female leader category, my sources tell me that USAF Colonel DeAnna Burt, commander of the 2nd Space Operations Squadron (2 SOPS, the GPS squadron) from 2008 to 2010, will in June 2015 become only the third female commander of the 50th Space Wing at Schriever AFB, Colorado — home to 2 SOPS. She follows in the very capable footsteps of then-Colonel Suzanne (Zan) Vautrinot, who was the first female wing commander at the50th Space Wing followed by then-Colonel Teresa (Terry) Djuric. Note that both Suzanne and Terry, who are now retired from active duty, went on to become general officers in the USAF.
Commander AFSPC – Gen. John Hyten (courtesy of the USAF)
Currently, Colonel Burt serves as director of the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) Commander’s Action Group for General John Hyten. General Hyten, the current commander of AFSPC, is himself a former 50th Space Wing commander, and he will also be speaking several times at the space symposium. Here’s a big hint: As a four-star general, General Hyten has morphed into quite a forceful, informative, entertaining and engaging speaker. You won’t want to miss any of his presentations.
If you see Colonel Burt at the Space Symposium, please congratulate her on her new assignment, and you might offer her your prayers for the incredible amount of responsibility she is about to assume. I’m betting she can handle it.
GPS Directorate
Another USAF general officer you are sure to run into at the Space Symposium is a newly minted brigadier general known by some as Wild Bill Cooley. General Cooley, who is currently the director of the GPS Directorate at SMC, was pinned on just a few weeks ago and will be speaking several times at the symposium. Wild Bill also deserves your congratulations. By all accounts, he is doing a great job and has more stars in his future.
The Place to Be
So, while there are several points to be made, a key one appears to be that if you are heavily involved with the GPS program inside and outside the USAF and you do a good job, it can work wonders for your career. If you want to hear from those who have been successful, the 31st Space Symposium is the place to be.
I hope to see you at the Broadmoor April 13-16. Come early and wear your walking shoes. Please stop by the GPS World booth and say hello to everyone. I will be there for sure.
As I wind up this to-do list, I will tell you about another Space Symposium event where it is important, even critical, to be seen. Everyone who is anyone will be attending the Connecting Colorado private function on Wednesday evening, April 15. The event is hosted by the Braxton Science and Technology Group; this is the third year for the coveted event. As I have stated before, I have attended 26 of the 31 Space Symposiums, and I have never been to an after-hours function during that time that even approaches the quality and class that Connecting Colorado exudes. It is a first-class event in a visually stunning venue, where private access passes are required to enter and guards are serious about keeping out gatecrashers. If history is any guide, it promises to be an amazing evening of fine wines, sumptuous food, quality cigars, roaring fireplaces and professional camaraderie that can’t be beat. Plus, the networking opportunities are endless. In other words, the Connecting Colorado event is what all the other after-hours Space Symposium events long to be or wish they could emulate. I can’t wait. I hope to see you there, and at the 31st Space Symposium. By the way, April in the Rocky Mountains means dress appropriately — warmly works for me.
Until next time, Happy Navigating, and remember: GPS is brought to you courtesy of the United States Air Force.
The United States Civil GPS Service Interface Committee (CGSIC) has issued a notice about a problem some receivers are having implementing the correct time. The U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center has received reports of synchronization issues since the implementation of a leap second on Jan. 21. Users experiencing this problem should contact the receiver manufacturer for a firmware or software update. Here is the text of the CGSIC notice:
All CGSIC: 2015 GPS Future Leap Second Implementation
The GPS 50 bit-per-second navigation message transmitted by each GPS satellite (specifically Page 18, subframe 4) includes the parameters needed to relate GPS time to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time).That relationship is maintained through leap second implementation transitions by IS-GPS-200 compliant user equipment.For leap second transition, user equipment must utilize the notice regarding a scheduled future delta time due to leap seconds (ÄtLSF), together with the week number (WNLSF) and the day number (DN), at the end of which the leap second becomes effective.
On or about Jan. 21, 2015, those GPS navigation messages began to include futurevleap second data which indicates an increase in the leap second to become effective at the end of June 2015.IS-GPS-200 revision H, dated 24 Sep 2013 paragraph 20.3.3.5.2.4 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), documents the appropriate algorithm details to ensure correct utilization of the parameters above (including all potential truncated week number transitions and variations in time of processing relative to satellite upload timing near the future leap second effectivity).
The data upload for the June 30 leap second, initiated with SVN48/PRN07 at 18:33:56z on Jan. 21, was correctly executed. However, there are several receivers brands/models that seem to be mishandling this information and applying the leap second now. This is creating a negative one-second offset in faulty receivers. The U.S. Coast Guard Navigation Center has reports of these receivers causing synchronization issues with radios, computer systems, and data logging equipment.
Users experiencing issues with GPS receivers that began on Jan. 21 should contact the receiver manufacturer to determine if the latest firmware or software patch can correct the issue.
The third and fourth Galileo Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites are a confirmed “fit” for their Arianespace Soyuz launch March 27, having made initial contact with the mission’s dual-payload dispenser in French Guiana, according to Arianespace.
The fit check was completed over a two-day period inside the Spaceport’s S1A payload preparation building. The two satellites were installed separately, with the Flight Model #3 (FM3) spacecraft integrated on — and subsequently removed from — the dispenser on Feb. 9. Flight Model #4 (FM4) underwent the same process the following day.
The payload dispenser for Galileo was developed by RUAG Space Sweden for Arianespace, and carries one satellite on each side. It will deploy the spacecraft during the Soyuz launch by firing a pyrotechnic separation system to release them in opposite directions at the orbital insertion point.
Final integration on the dispenser will be performed during upcoming processing at the spaceport, and will be followed by the completed unit’s installation on Soyuz.
The March 27 mission — designated Flight VS11 in Arianespace’s numbering system — will be the company’s fourth launch carrying spacecraft for the Galileo constellation.
Air Force Orders Two More GPS III Satellites
The United States Air Force plans to order two more GPS III satellites from contractor Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin is under contract to build eight GPS III satellites, with the first planned to be launched in 2016. The contract includes options for up to four more satellites.
However, the Air Force plans to open up construction of subsequent GPS satellites for competitive bidding with GPS III space vehicle 11. The satellites are part of the Air Force’s $167.3 billion budget request for fiscal 2016, up from $152.8 billion provided by Congress for fiscal 2015.
The Air Force also intends to buy only one GPS satellite — from Lockheed Martin or a different contractor — in 2017 rather than the three included in the current budget blueprint.
The Lockheed Martin GPS III Non-Flight Satellite Testbed (GNST).
A Lockheed Martin vice president has stated that the first GPS III satellite will likely launch in 2017, not 2016 as had been projected in the most recent update.
The company is readying the first satellite for launch availability by the end of 2015, for launch as early as the end of this year, but Space News reports that Mark Valerio, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s military space business, stated in a Feb. 18 news briefing that he expects the Air Force will schedule its launch for early 2017.
The GPS III generation of modernized satellites — with new signals, added signal strength, and resistance to interference and jamming — was originally projected to begin orbiting in 2014. Technical difficulties have delayed the program. The principal issues, those with the payload, have now been resolved, according to Valerio.
Valerio expects a firmer GPS III launch announcement for 2017 in March. He expected the final launch date “will depend on the health of the existing constellation, the availability of launch slots and synchronization with the ground system.” Ultimately, the Air Force always makes the final decision on the launch date.
Lockheed Martin is contracted to build eight GPS III satellites.
Late last year, a spokesman for the Space and Missile Systems Center said that “The first GPS III launch is tentatively considered for the first half of FY17, based on booster availability and Air Force launch priorities.”
The Air Force has put out feelers for other contractors to finish out the full generation of GPS III satellites. Lockheed Martin is building eight, with an option for four more, totalling 12; a complete constellation of III-generation satellites would require 24. Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems and Northrop Grumman Aerospace are reportedly interested.
“The best thing I can do is keep marching along the plan we have,” Valerio said. “We’re certainly not afraid of the competition.” Lockheed Martin has submitted cost-cutting proposals for the current GPS III satellite design, he added.
Ground Control
The corresponding new ground system for GPS III, the Operational Control Segment (OCX), has also fallen behind schedule. Just this month, the Air Force announced that Lockheed Martin may develop an interim control capability, a set of changes implemented upon the current control segment, the Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP), as a backup.
Michael Gilmore, the Defense Department’s director of operational test and evaluation, recently stated that OCX delays have pushed back GPS III operational testing “until after at least six, and as many as eight,” satellites have been launched into orbit. “This introduces significant risk that effectiveness and suitability deficiencies in GPS III satellites will not be discovered until it is too late to prevent their introduction to the operational constellation.”
Budget Blues
Don Jewell, GPS World’s contributing editor for defense, has written at length about the GPS III and OCX situations in his February newsletter column, “USAF FY16 Budget Plus $10B More, Please!”. We condensed some of his remarks, particular to the budget battle on Capitol Hill, for the Out in Front column of the March issue of the magazine, due out soon. Here is a further digest of those comments.
The 2016 President’s Budget, submitted in February, contains an Air Force requested a budget of $122.2 billion. This may be too little, too late.
On the satellite side of the house, GPS III has problems centering on development and delivery issues with a subcontractor. In this case, however, the whole satellite program is not failing, just a component, albeit an important one: the Mission Data Unit (MDU).
For GPS III+, the Air Force plans for a two-phased competition process: a Production Readiness competition for up to three firm-fixed price contracts to mature competitors’ production designs for a competition in a full and open competition for up to 22 GPS III Production SVs [satellite vehicles] with an expected award in FY17/18.
This sounds great if you need an entirely new GPS III system, which consists of, at a minimum, a new payload, satellite, launcher and ground C2 system. In fact, the government only needs an MDU. Failure to produce the MDU on time has delayed GPS III by 18 months to date.
More troubling are the government proposals to entertain other bids to finish the second half of the GPS III constellation. Such a competition or re-bid will take at least three years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars — and Lockheed Martin may well win again in the end
A significant added cost to the GPS budget concerns the need for a new ground C2 system if the total new systems approach is taken. If preliminary elements of the GPS space segment are developed without cross-checking the impact to the GPS control segment, technical, operational, budgetary and schedule impacts will be significant.
The already perturbed OCX budget likely has not considered the integration costs of a newly developed, yet-to-be-procured GPS III+ SV. OCX today is geared for the GPS III already contracted for, and it is failing to meet that challenge.
Budget constraints are tight and getting tighter, mandating the Air Force “do more with less” in every context. For GPS III SVs, this should — but by no means necessarily does — indicate developing an alternate MDU rather than buying a new block of GPS SVs.
The long-anticipated 2016 President’s Budget (PB) was submitted to Congress in early February. The PB is the spark that ignites the lengthy and often contentious congressional budget process, including: adopting a budget resolution framework, developing numerous discretionary spending bills, reconciling legislation between the House and Senate, approving continuing resolution stop-gap measures and finally, hopefully, appropriating funds for various programs — including the Global Positioning System (GPS) as part of the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) U.S. Air Force (USAF) budget request.
For FY (Fiscal Year 1 Oct – 30 Sep) 2016, the U.S. Air Force requested a topline budget of $122.2 billion in Air Force controlled funding that exceeds funding levels recommended by the OMB (Office of Management and Budget) and laid out in the Budget Control Act by almost $10 billion. Several well-meaning friends still in high places in the government immediately sent me copies of the USAF budget while it was still warm, so to speak, and thought that I would be “properly incensed” — proffered one old friend — over the so-called $10B overdraft. I hate to disappoint my friends, but in the spirit of the USAF policy of putting the Bottom Line Up Front, I applaud the Air Force action and personally think it may be too little, too late. The supplemental request or overdraft should probably have been more on the order of $20B, not $10B.
Hollow Force
This is not an emotional reaction, but a reasoned statement by a seasoned veteran airman of 30 years in the USAF, yours truly, who served through at least two periods of a “hollow force” that were devastating not only to the USAF as an institution, but to the DoD as a whole and to all the personnel who served during these austere and dangerous times. And, yes, I am equating a hollow force with a dangerous force. Indeed, the term “hollow force” officially refers to military and government forces that certainly, on the surface, appear to be “mission ready,” but upon close examination suffer from moderate to severe shortages of personnel and equipment as well as deficiencies, to varying degrees, in training.
Gen Mark A Welsh III, Chief of Staff, USAF, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee 201 (Photo courtesy of USAF – SSG Sean K. Harp).
In recent testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with his fellow service chiefs, General Mark A. Welsh III, chief of staff of the United States Air Force, laid out the dangers inherent in the hollow force when he stated:
“Last year, our readiness levels reached an all-time low. As we struggle to recover, we don’t have enough units ready to respond immediately to a major contingency, and we’re not always able to provide fully mission-ready units to meet our combatant commanders’ routine rotational requirements.
“The Air Force’s modernization forecasts also are bleak. About 20 percent of [our] aircraft flying today were built in the 1950s and 1960s, and more than half of the rest are 25 years old or older.
“And now, due to sequestration, we’ve cut about 50 percent of our currently planned modernization programs.”
To someone who lived through the hollow force in the past, this is a scary description and prospect for our airmen. In describing the results of budget cuts and difficult decisions regarding program terminations that result in a hollow force, General Welsh put it this way:
“Without these tough calls, the Air Force ‘will be neither ready to fight today, nor viable against the threats of tomorrow’.”
Indeed, a hollow force puts every ones lives in danger. During the post-Vietnam hollow force created by the peanut farmer, there were times when there were B52 aircraft sitting alert just for the spy satellite photo ops that did not have engines in the nacelles nor certified crews to fly them. Aircrews were lucky if they were able to fly four hours per month, and believe me, that made us all less than proficient. I remember one incident specifically. My oxygen (O2) mask had failed on a previous flight and I needed a new one. In the high-performance aircraft in which we flew, regulations required an O2 mask be attached to our helmet and actually in place with crewmembers in the cockpit breathing pure (100%) O2 above a certain altitude. Because of budget cuts, I was issued a waiver, a piece of paper that said I was legal to fly without a fully functioning O2 mask. Fortunately I never was forced to fly without a fully functioning O2 mask, but what if I had been? What if I had passed out from O2 deprivation? What about the other members of the crew? What purpose did the piece of paper serve, other than mollifying a paper pusher’s conscience? Would the Air Force crash investigators have found it in the wreckage and said, “Oh, it’s OK, he had a waiver!” These are the types of things that can happen with a “hollow force.” We don’t need to go there again, and if nothing else, the extra $10B may be just the ticket to keep the aircrews proficient and equipment maintained.
The Color of Money
I know that budgeting and spending other people’s money seems like a simple issue, but with the government, nothing is ever simple. Consequently, the DoD has established an entire university system, known as the Defense Acquisition University (DAU), to train acquisition, program and financial officials in handling government acquisition funds, along with other procurement activities. Under the Budget Control Act guidelines and the Congressional cost-cutting exercise known as Seques-castration, 2016 is another cost-cutting year. That is significant when you understand that the USAF and all of DoD are still reeling from more than ten years of war, on more than one front, along with previously mandated significant budget and manpower cuts that seriously impacted the ability of the USAF to accomplish its multitude of missions.
Consider that budget cuts have a lingering, insidious and costly effect in equipment not maintained or replaced, training not accomplished, R&D not conducted, new technologies not developed, and inevitably the inability to accomplish the mission. A lot of the complexity in these budget-cutting moves relates to what the government refers to as the color of money. For example budgetary funds are appropriated and obligated for the USAF, and most other services, according to the following formula:
O&M – Operations and Maintenance – Obligated for 1 year
MILPERS – Military Personnel – Obligated for 1 year
RDT&E – Res Dev Test & Eval – Obligated for 2 years
PROC – Procurement – Obligated for 3 years
MILCON – Military Construction – Obligated for 5 years
As you can see, all funds are not obligated for just one year and then the money expires. Indeed, there are several colors of money, and failing to fund an RDT&E effort can have catastrophic results on the future of that program and associated programs that might benefit from the technology not developed. At any one time, the USAF is juggling budgets stretching across years and programs and moving money or robbing Peter to pay Paul.
FM (Financial Management) or financial and program management gurus at any one time are managing funds that originated as many as five years previously, plus the current year’s budget, while planning on how to use funds that might carry over to next year. They have just submitted the FY16 budget, which also means they are now hard at work on the FY17 budget without knowing what will be obligated for FY16. Across all those budget years, they have to deal with the arcane rules concerning the color of money. Yes, they are professionals (I’ve been married to one of the best for 35+ years), and they do a great job, but face it — sometimes they are just taking a well-educated guess and hoping for supplemental funding just to meet basic requirements.
Seriously, FM’ers live for the fairytale that one day a combatant commander will say, “Hey, your mission is more important than mine, so I will ‘MIPR’ (a one-time financial move) my funding to your budget line for your project.” Let’s see — a pig is not aerodynamically designed to fly…
Space
Funding for all space programs is especially critical, as the entire space arena is known as a force multiplier, in that satellites and space platforms provide and enable capabilities that increase the effectiveness and reach of all military and government personnel. Therefore, when space programs are not funded, delayed or are cut, the impact ripples across the entire DOD. This is especially true of GPS and PNT (Position, Navigation and Timing) systems which have become so ubiquitous, they are considered a must-have utility for billions of users around the globe, not just the U.S. government. In fact, military and government users may be the smallest segment of users for GPS and PNT services today, which is ironic when you consider that, as General John Hyten (USAF), commander of Air Force Space Command, loves to remind us, “GPS is provided to the world, and over three billion plus users, free of charge 24/7, by the United States Air Force.”
OCX – Next-Generation Space Control Segment
Unfortunately, a couple of major GPS-related programs are in trouble. For OCX, the Next-Generation Control Segment for GPS, my sources tell me, and 2016 budget documents clearly show, that current costs attributable to the prime contractor greatly exceed the contract award specification of ~$886M by a factor of 100% ,with a delivery date still far out on the horizon — somewhere around 2020 with a total program costs of $3.6B. That’s the bad news; the good news is there are definitely sound alternatives, and my sources tell me they are being belatedly explored.
Sometimes the behemoth primes are just that: too big and too expensive. Oftentimes the real subject matter experts (SMEs) reside in the smaller, boutique, more agile companies that can do the job in 24 months for $200M, which is a price that was quoted to me recently by a company with skin in the game, since their software products are responsible for launching and controlling all of the GPS satellites launched in the last eight years without a single failure. Plus, sources inside the company tell me that they have already developed a complete launch and initial checkout system for GPS III, which the OCX prime contractor is still struggling to construct.
This is where the USAF and OSD must step back and assess the OCX program for all its merits versus costs. GPS is not that complicated a satellite system, and yet we are on course to spend $3.6B for a ground C2 (Command and Control) system that will still have significant shortcomings. If it were the perfect C2 system in the end, that would be one consideration, but in fact, as the prime has admitted, it will be far from what was initially envisioned, and the total program costs will have grown by almost 400%.
This scenario begs the question: As the GPS acquisition authority, which product would you trust, a known product derived from a proven government and commercial satellite launch and C2 capability in operation today from a reliable company that has a flawless track record of GPS launches for the last eight years? Or a brand-new unproven product costing billions of dollars from a company that is clearly struggling technically and financially and has, at the end of the day, never launched or controlled a single GPS satellite? The answer seems clear to me. Obviously, there are valid alternatives, and in this budget environment the USAF needs to take a look at replacements, alternatives, supplements and backups, however you choose to phrase it, to OCX.
As we were going to press, we learned that Mr. Kendall has given the OCX Program a green light, but with several caveats indicating the program will be closely watched in the future. Mr. Kendall confirmed that while the OCX costs had indeed doubled, he was going to stay the course for now.
Major General Roger Teague, director of space programs for the Air Force acquisition chief, said a review by chief arms buyer Frank Kendall went well, but program officials and the contractor got “tough marching orders” to stick to schedule and cost targets. That is well and good, but history shows us that it has never happened in the past with the OCX program, and so some tough changes are going to have to be made if they are going to stay on track. We wish them well.
GPS III – Next Generation Space Segment
On the satellite or hardware side of the house, the GPS III — or next-generation GPS satellite — is also having problems, but in this case it centers on development and delivery issues with a subcontractor having serious technical issues and who has failed to deliver on cost or schedule. That subcontractor was just last week bought by a bigger prime, so we will have to wait and see what happens. In this case, however, the whole satellite program is not failing just a component, albeit an important one, the Mission Data Unit or MDU. Although again the answer seems simple, there are bigger forces at play, and one of them is wrapped up in a new government initiative known as Better Buying Power 3.0.
Better Buying Power 3.0
The current GPS III+ budget input states: “In an effort to implement Better Buying Power 3.0 (BBP 3.0) to control production costs, the [U.S.] Air Force intends to create a competitive environment. Options for the GPS III competition continue to be explored by USD (AT&L) [Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics], Mr. Frank Kendall.
Frank Kendall, under secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; the Under Secretary flag.
The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, or USD (AT&L), is a senior civilian official in the Office of the Secretary of Defense within the Department of Defense. USD (AT&L) is the principal staff assistant and advisor to the Secretary of Defense and the Deputy Secretary of Defense for all matters concerning departmental acquisitions and the general management of the department as a whole, which means he is a significant decision-maker where DoD acquisitions are concerned, and he has something to say about the plans for those acquisitions. Obviously, those plans need to make sense, financially, operationally and hopefully logically. Mr. Kendall, who has been in his current position for almost four years, has brought a much needed common-sense approach to government acquisition, and we can only hope he continues to make judicious, practical and logical decisions.
For GPS III+, the U.S. Air Force’s published notional plan is for a two-phased competition process. Phase one is a Production Readiness competition for up to three firm-fixed price contracts to mature competitors’ production designs for a competition in Phase two. Phase two will be a full and open competition for up to 22 GPS III Production SVs [satellite vehicles] with an expected award in FY17/18. The [U.S.] Air Force GPS Directorate received USD (AT&L) approval to purchase GPS III SV09-10 from the incumbent Lockheed Martin (LMCO) at the December 2014 Defense Acquisition Board (DAB), in order to sustain the GPS constellation while competitive options are pursued.” [Bold added for emphasis.] See the budget document here.
The “government speak” sounds great if you need an entirely new GPS III system, which consists of, at a minimum, a new payload, satellite, launcher and ground C2 system (remember OCX is only designed to work with current and planned GPS SVs, and it doesn’t even do that today). But, in fact, the U.S. government only needs an MDU, which is a critical part of the payload. Indeed, failure to produce the MDU on time has delayed the entire GPS III program by about 18 months to date.
Even more troubling to me is the seemingly innocuous phrases from the government plan that states “create a competitive environment…firm-fixed price contracts to mature [up to three] competitors’ production designs,” which is nothing more than government speak for “We are going to pay competitors to mature their technology so they can compete against the current prime (LMCO), who is currently building the first 10 GPS III satellites.” In effect, the government is saying the competitors on their own cannot compete against LMCO so we, the government, are going to give them contracts and lots of money to help them get to a point where they can compete, and then we are going to have a recompetition. Of course, this is going to take at least three years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and LMCO may well win again in the end, but at least we will have conducted a competition. Does this approach make sense? Does it pass the financial, operational, and logic tests? Does it pass the Washington Post test? I guess we will have to wait and see if Frank Kendall agrees.
BBP 3.0
So, what exactly is the initiative known as Better Buying Power 3.0? It’s DoD’s mandate to “do more with less”:
“DoD’s Mandate To Do More Without More
“Better Buying Power (BBP) is the implementation of best practices to hopefully strengthen the Defense Department’s buying power, improve industry productivity, and provide an affordable, value-added military capability for the warfighter and government user. Launched in 2010, BBP encompasses a set of fundamental acquisition principles to achieve greater efficiencies through affordability, cost control, elimination of unproductive processes and bureaucracy, and promotion of competition. BBP initiatives also incentivize productivity and innovation in industry and Government, and improve tradecraft in the acquisition of services.”
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Now for the rest of the story.
We can all agree that defense budgets are tight, so it will be interesting to see how BBP 3.0 plays out in the arena for GPS SVs. Will the U.S. Air Force initiate a competition to acquire an entirely new GPS III SV, or fix the problem with the current GPS III program, the MDU? Recall my previous column concerning the GPS III Sources Sought, in which the GPS III MDU was compared to an aircraft engine and the GPS III satellite was compared to an aircraft. In this analogy, the Air Force didn’t ask for companies/competitors to produce a new aircraft just because it needed an alternate engine. It simply contracted for another engine supplier — the most cost-effective competition that adheres to the principles of BBP 3.0. However, from the GPS Directorate budget language quoted earlier, it appears as if the Air Force is looking to pursue an entirely new GPS III system to include SVs, rather than just procure an alternate MDU.
In my humble opinion, stringently applying BBP 3.0 to GPS III issues means simply to employ competition at the correct level (i.e., for the engine rather than the entire aircraft). An interesting feature and significant added cost to the GPS budget, which I briefly mentioned earlier, concerns the need for a new ground C2 system if the total new systems approach is taken. For, indeed, if preliminary elements of the GPS space segment are developed without cross-checking the impact to the GPS control segment, the technical, operational, budgetary and schedule impacts will be significant. For example, the already troubled next-generation GPS ground control system, OCX, budget likely has not considered the integration costs of a newly developed, yet-to-be-procured “production ready” GPS III+ SV. Indeed, OCX today is geared for the GPS III already contracted for and it is failing to meet that challenge in a spectacular and expensive way. So it is possible, even probable, that OCX integration costs for yet another new model of GPS III family of satellites would increase the OCX budget significantly…unless of course one assumes that the U.S. Air Force acquires a perfectly matched, new GPS III satellite that integrates seamlessly with OCX. In other words, an entirely new GPS III SV would need to be perfectly matched to the current GPS III SV — and what are the chances of that, and why would you spend hundreds of millions of scarce acquisition dollars to procure an exact and more expensive replica?
Budget constraints are tight and getting tighter. BBP 3.0 mandates the Air Force “do more with less” in every context. For GPS III SVs, this means developing an alternate MDU rather than buying a new block of GPS SVs.
Until next time, Happy Navigating, and remember: GPS is brought to you free of charge by the United States Air Force.
The United States Air Force plans to order two more GPS III satellites from contractor Lockheed Martin, according to SpaceNews. Lockheed Martin is under contract to build eight GPS III satellites, with the first planned to be launched in 2016. The contract includes options for up to four more satellites.
However, the Air Force plans to open up construction of subsequent GPS satellites for competitive bidding with GPS III space vehicle 11, reports Aviation Week.
The satellites are part of the Air Force’s $167.3 billion budget request for fiscal 2016, up from $152.8 billion provided by Congress for fiscal 2015.
The Air Force also intends to buy only one GPS satellite — from Lockheed Martin or a different contractor — in 2017 rather than the three included in the current budget blueprint, according to the SpaceNews.
Milena, or Galileo-FOC FM2, moves above the dangerous Van Allen Belt to rejoin Doresa, Galileo-FOC FM1, in a partially usable orbit. Photo: Galileo
By Tim Reynolds, GPS World European correspondent
Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain of the European Space Agency (ESA) announced Jan. 16 that the second errant full-operational capability (FOC) satellite, launched in August, had started its orbital change maneuver the previous day. He anticipated that the orbital change would be completed and the final orbit — “albeit somewhat lower in height than the one into which it was supposed to go” — achieved in “a few weeks.” He confirmed that both in-orbit FOCs work well, are fully operational, and provide excellent on-spec positioning data.
Two more FOC satellites are ready for launch, and a third has undergone thermal vacuum testing. Dordain said four will be available to launch soon, and he anticipated up to six FOCs being ready for launch in 2015 [word came at press time that all 2015 launches would be aboard the previously problematic Soyuz vehicle, and not on heretofore reliable Ariane]. The previous plan had called for four in 2015, but the total now includes two that were held back from a December 2014 launch. The actual schedule and launch vehicles are still under discussion, according to Dordain; the European Commission (EC) will make a decision at the end of January on this. He refused to comment on what ESA would recommend to EC on this front.
Read Tim Reynolds’ Brussels-based reporting the in EAGER quarterly enewsletter; free at gpsworld.com/subscribe.
The completion is a key milestone towards end-to-end capability to automatically transfer data between Raytheon’s OCX and Lockheed’s GPS III satellite. One more readiness exercise, five launch rehearsals, and a mission dress rehearsal are planned before launch of the first GPS III with OCX.
The exercise demonstrated mission planning and scheduling capabilities with the simulated Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) for the first time, including a replan scenario that would occur in the event of a launch slip.
The system also automatically generated antenna pointing angles for the simulated AFSCN — until now, manually generated. Exercise 4 introduced maneuver planning and reconstruction capabilities, as well as advanced planning and scheduling with AFSCN assets. Automation of these capabilities will allow GPS operators to optimize system performance rather than focus on routine operations.
Brigadier General Cooley
Colonel William Cooley, director of the GPS Directorate, has been nominated to the rank of brigadier general, United States Air Force. He wrote a December GPS World article on “What It Takes to Make a Gold Standard.”
Artist’s rendering of GPS III satellite (courtesy of Lockheed Martin).
Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin successfully completed the fourth of five planned launch and early orbit exercises to demonstrate new automation capabilities, information assurance and launch readiness of the U.S. Air Force’s next-generation GPS III satellite and Operational Control System (OCX).
Successful completion of Exercise 4, on Oct. 3, represents a key milestone demonstrating the end-to-end capability to automatically transfer data between Raytheon’s OCX and Lockheed Martin’s GPS III satellite. One additional readiness exercise, five launch rehearsals and a mission dress rehearsal are planned prior to launch of the first GPS III satellite with OCX.
The exercise used the latest baseline of Raytheon’s OCX Launch Checkout System (LCS) software featuring integrated information assurance functionality for the first time and the latest version of Lockheed Martin’s GPS III satellite simulator. Exercise 4 successfully demonstrated mission planning and scheduling capabilities with the simulated Air Force Satellite Control Network (AFSCN) for the first time, including a replan scenario that would occur in the event of a launch slip.
The system also automatically generated antenna pointing angles for the simulated AFSCN, which until now have been manually generated. Exercise 4 expands on three previous exercises, introducing maneuver planning and reconstruction capabilities, as well as advanced planning and scheduling with AFSCN assets. The automation of these capabilities will allow GPS operators to spend their time optimizing system performance rather than focusing on routine operations.
“As part of establishing the LCS Block 0 baseline, the completion of Exercise 4 demonstrates the capability of OCX to successfully support a GPS-III satellite launch in an information assurance hardened environment,” said Matthew Gilligan, Raytheon vice president and GPS OCX program manager. “Exercise 4 began the instantiation of vital OCX automation capabilities that give operators their time back in order to focus on mission critical activities, one of the important elements of a modernized GPS.”
“Launch Exercise 4 demonstrated the team’s ability to complete nearly 100 percent of the GPS III space vehicle 1 launch and early orbit mission sequence,” said Mark Stewart, vice president for Lockheed Martin’s Navigation Systems mission area. “The findings the team made during this robust launch exercise will help mature the processes, procedures, and tools necessary to enter our rehearsal phase and ultimately the launch and checkout mission.”
GPS III satellites will deliver three times better accuracy, provide up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities, and include enhancements that extend spacecraft life to 15 years, 25 percent longer than the newest Block IIF satellites. GPS III will be the first generation of GPS satellite with a new L1C civil signal designed to make it interoperable with other international global navigation satellite systems. The first GPS III satellite is currently undergoing integration and testing, with final space vehicle delivery planned for late 2015.
OCX is being developed in two blocks using a commercial best practice iterative software development process, with seven iterations in Block 1 and one iteration in Block 2. Exercise 4 was conducted using the recently completed Iteration 1.5 software, representing an early delivery of the final software baseline. Exercise 5, scheduled for 2015, will include critical information assurance features needed to support launch of the first GPS III satellite.
By Colonel William T. “Bill” Cooley, U.S. Air Force, Director, Global Positioning System
Last year in my “Directions” article, I emphasized the commitment made by the U.S. government to ensure GPS signals are available to all users, and I shared some of our excitement in the GPS Directorate regarding the modernized capabilities we are developing and fielding. This year I’d like to share with you progress we’ve made in the past 12 months, provide an update on the modernization initiatives, and challenge civil users and receiver companies to innovate and accelerate these modernized capabilities for users worldwide.
This past year has been productive for the GPS program. The most visible progress was the addition of four new Boeing-built GPS IIF satellites to the GPS constellation, bringing the total number of available satellites from 36 to 39 (SVN-33 was safely disposed in October 2014, or the number would be 40). These additions also reduced the average age of the satellites on orbit from 11.1 to 10.3 years. This year’s GPS launch tempo had not been matched since the early 1990s! Table 1 lists the current satellites in the constellation by block.
TABLE 1. GPS constellation as of October 31, 2014.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the GPS satellite constellation is the ever-improving performance. As I mentioned last year, the 2008 Standard Positioning Service (SPS) Performance Standard, issued by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, codifies our commitment to civil users. Among other attributes that make GPS the “gold standard” for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), the SPS requires a signal-in-space (SIS) user range error (URE) of 4.0 meters or less for every healthy satellite. The SIS URE is the difference between a GPS satellite’s navigation message (for example, ephemeris data and satellite clock correction data) versus the truth (for example, satellite transmit antenna location and satellite clock offset from GPS time). While the commitment of the U.S. government is four meters or less, the actual average performance over the past year has been 0.68 meters and in the past quarter has been an impressive 0.63 meters!
While this is admirable, continued modernization efforts will allow us even better performance. A significant contributor to the errors experienced by GPS receivers are ionospheric delays that can be eliminated only with knowing the characteristics of the ionosphere (free electron density in the region roughly 100-1,000 kilometers above the Earth’s surface) or by using two signals at different known frequencies. While systems like Federal Aviation Administration Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and the U.S. Coast Guard National Differential GPS (NDGPS) provide a modeled approximation of the ionosphere, the new L2C and L5 civil signals on the GPS IIR-M, GPS IIF, and soon-to-launch GPS III satellites enable GPS receivers to directly measure and eliminate the ionospheric delays altogether — thereby delivering on the GPS modernization program first announced in 1999. These new signals began pre-operational Civil Navigation (CNAV) message broadcast on 28 April 2014 (with the L2C signal set “healthy” and L5 set “unhealthy” until sufficient monitoring capability is established).
With CNAV now on the air, civil users should take advantage of it. My challenge to commercial receiver companies and innovators is to incorporate the modernized signals in future receivers and continue to improve user experience and GPS performance. Currently 14 L2C-broadcasting satellites are in the constellation, and by early 2016 we expect to have 19 on-orbit and transmitting L2C (7 GPS IIR-Ms and 12 GPS IIFs). GPS modernization is well on its way from a signal-in-space perspective; receiver manufacturers and innovators must bring new, improved products and solutions to users.
Less visible but real progress modernizing the GPS Enterprise is underway with the next generation of GPS satellites, ground control, and user equipment segments. The first GPS III satellite and the newly developed navigation payload have been delayed approximately two years from the original planned delivery of the completed GPS III satellite of October 2014. But in September of this year, the GPS III navigation payload was shipped from Exelis (the payload subcontractor) in Clifton, New Jersey, to Lockheed Martin’s (GPS III prime contractor) facility in Waterton, Colorado. There, it completed the payload-level thermal vacuum testing at the end of October, a key step toward payload and eventually satellite vehicle delivery. The first GPS III satellite is now 87% complete and the program is making solid progress.
The GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System (OCX), with Raytheon as the prime contractor, experienced significant challenges in development but can also claim measurable progress this year. Complex cyber-security requirements and their implementation drove a significant number of these challenges, but are essential to provide civil and military GPS users with a secure and resilient command and control system. These and other challenges resulted in significant cost and schedule overruns and a two-year delay to the program, which drove an update to the development plan. The revised OCX plan reflects the complexity of implementing these unique cyber requirements and accounts for planned improvements to Raytheon’s systems engineering and software development approach. The plan establishes a schedule meeting GPS III’s projected first-launch date.
Despite its challenges, OCX development completed four end-to-end space-to-ground launch readiness exercises with GPS III, as well as entered the formal integration and test phase. The new monitoring station receivers are entering qualification test, and the first production receiver is on track to be delivered in spring of 2015. OCX is on track to provide robust PNT services, improvements in URE accuracy, enable access to new military and civil signals, and provide cyber security for the GPS ground control.
Our development of Military GPS User Equipment (MGUE) is another area where we have made important strides this past year. We started the year by developing a commercial market-based acquisition approach that will accelerate delivery of MGUE systems by years. In this effort, we want to establish a race to a certified marketplace where the U.S. government serves as the race official while our industry partners set their own pace to deliver capability. Our goal is to increase speed of delivery to the warfighter while capitalizing on industry’s ability to innovate.
Our MGUE team of government and industry partners (Rockwell Collins, Raytheon, and L3) successfully completed major system design reviews demonstrating a readiness to define the process of security and compatibility certification. Additionally, the team participated in the GYPSY Juliett multi-service, multi-nation PNT demonstration hosted by the U.S. Strategic Command this past summer. While we battled the elements through two hurricanes, the team successfully demonstrated the capability of M-Code receiver cards in an operational demonstration. Our goal is to enable full operational testing with four lead platforms in summer 2016.
While many risks and challenges to GPS modernization still lie ahead of us, the persistent effort by the GPS team has produced important progress in 2014 across the space, ground, and user equipment segments.
A civilian GPS user recently thanked me for providing the incredibly useful utility free to everyone around the globe. Although my impulsive response was to say simply, “You’re welcome,” I’d like to provide a more thoughtful and thorough reply that recognizes those responsible for GPS.
There are two key groups to thank for GPS: the first is the men and women across the United States government and industry who develop, field, and operate the GPS Enterprise. Among this group are satellite factory technicians, software engineers improving the ground segment, receiver designers, program office engineers, and satellite operators continuously monitoring the constellation, updating each GPS satellite’s clock correction and ephemeris data 24/7. This team works with an unwavering passion for this mission that inspires me every day.
The second group responsible for GPS is the American taxpayer who, through Congress, funds the GPS Enterprise every year.The U.S. financial commitment to GPS is not just for U.S. security or the well documented positive impact GPS has on the American economy, but for the benefit of the entire world as a global utility. GPS is the gold standard for PNT because American taxpayers continuously provide fiscal support so the GPS Enterprise’s men and women can design, produce, field, and maintain the global utility that we all have come to depend on.
Thank you for supporting this enterprise, and know that the GPS team works hard to ensure those resources are spent wisely to provide continuously improving, predictable, and dependable performance from the Global Positioning System.
Colonel William T. Cooley is director, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Air Force Space Command, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.
The root cause of the anomaly that sent two Galileo satellites into the wrong orbit on August 22 was a shortcoming in the system thermal analysis performed during stage design, and not an operator error during stage assembly, according to findings by an independent inquiry board.
The independent inquiry board was created by Arianespace, in conjunction with the European Space Agency and the European Commission. Its conclusions draw on data supplied by Russian partners in the program, and are consistent with the final conclusions of the inquiry board appointed by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
The anomaly occurred during the flight of the launcher’s fourth stage, Fregat, designed and produced by NPO Lavochkin. It occurred about 35 minutes after liftoff, at the beginning of the ballistic phase preceding the second ignition of this stage.
The board’s conclusions confirm that the first part of the mission proceeded nominally, which means that the three-stage Soyuz launcher was not at fault. The inquiry board also eliminated the hypothesis that the anomaly could have been caused by the abnormal behavior of the Galileo satellites.
The scenario that led to an anomaly in the orbital injection of the satellites was precisely reconstructed, as follows:
The orbital error resulted from an error in the thrust orientation of the main engine on the Fregat stage during its second powered phase.
This orientation error was the result of the loss of inertial reference for the stage.
This loss occurred when the stage’s inertial system operated outside its authorized operating envelope, an excursion that was caused by the failure of two of Fregat’s attitude-control thrusters during the preceding ballistic phase.
This failure was due to a temporary interruption of the joint hydrazine propellant supply to these thrusters. The interruption in the flow was caused by freezing of the hydrazine.
The freezing resulted from the proximity of hydrazine and cold helium feed lines, these lines being connected by the same support structure, which acted as a thermal bridge.
Ambiguities in the design documents allowed the installation of this type of thermal “bridge” between the two lines. In fact, such bridges have also been seen on other Fregat stages now under production at NPO Lavochkin.
The design ambiguity is the result of not taking into account the relevant thermal transfers during the thermal analyses of the stage system design.
The system thermal analyses have been reexamined in depth to identify all areas concerned by this issue. The board has chosen these corrective actions for the return to flight.
Revamp of the system thermal analysis.
Associated corrections in the design documents.
Modification of the documents for the manufacture, assembly, integration, and inspection procedures of the supply lines.
Arianespace said these measures can immediately be applied by NPO Lavochkin to the stages already produced, meaning that the Soyuz launcher could be available for its next mission from the Guiana Space Center in December.
“We are looking at the resumption of Soyuz launches from the Guiana Space Center, as early as December 2014,” stated the Arianespace CEO. “The resolution of this anomaly will enable a consolidation of the reliability of Fregat, which had experienced 45 consecutive successes until this mission.”
Galileo Service Controls Handed to GNSS Agency
Full Operability Set for 2020
The European GNSS Agency (GSA) and the European Commission have concluded an agreement that delegates a range of exploitation tasks for Galileo to the GSA, providing a framework and budget for the development of services and operations through 2021.
The signing of the Galileo Exploitation Delegation Agreement serves as an initial step towards the full Galileo Exploitation Phase. According to the governance structure set out in the agreement, the European Commission is responsible for the overall programme supervision, the European Space Agency (ESA) is entrusted with the deployment phase, while the GSA is responsible for the exploitation phase. The GSA’s responsibilities include:
provision and marketing of the services
management, maintenance, continuous improvement, evolution and protection of the space and ground infrastructure
research and development of receiver platforms with innovative features in different application domains
development of future generations of the system
cooperation with other GNSS
all other required activities to ensure the development and smooth running of the system.
“With Galileo, we aim to provide a tangible service to European citizens, and this Delegation Agreement ensures we have the tools and funding necessary to achieve this,” said GSA Executive Director Carlo des Dorides.
Full operability of Galileo is now scheduled for 2020, a slight revision of the previous 2018 projection.
The agreement specifically sets the actions to be implemented, the amount of funding provided, and the conditions for the overall management. The maximum current EU contribution amounts to EUR 490 million, which will cover procurement and grant activities, including the GSA-ESA working arrangements and a programme management reserve, along with related research and development activities. The financing of the full exploitation phase will be confirmed during a mid-term review before the end of 2016.
India Launches Third Satellite and ICD
India successfully launched IRNSS-1C, the third satellite in the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), on October 16. The satellite was injected to an elliptical orbit of 282.56 x 20,670 kilometers, very close to its intended final geostationary orbit at 83 degrees East longitude.
IRNSS-1C is the third of the seven satellites constituting the space segment of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. Tthe first two were launched in July 2013 and April of this year. Both are functioning satisfactorily from their designated geosynchronous orbital positions.
IRNSS is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1,500 kilometers around the Indian mainland. IRNSS will provide two types of services: Standard Positioning Services (SPS), provided to all users, and Restricted Services (RS), provided to authorized users. Ground stations have been established in at least 15 locations across India.
The next satellite of the constellation, IRNSS-1D, is scheduled to be launched in the coming months. The full IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is planned to be completed by 2015.
IRNSS ICD Released. In late September, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) released version 1 of the IRNSS Signal in Space Interface Control Document (ICD) for the Standard Positioning Service.
The document provides information on the signals and structures of the IRNSS system, including signal modulations, frequency bands, received power levels, the data structures and their interpretations, and user algorithms.
Registration is required for ICD download access at a new IRNSS website.
JAVAD Tracks Signal. JAVAD GNSS published a chart showing that it has tracked the IRNSS L5 signal.
Shortly after ISRO released its IRNSS Signal in Space Interface Control Document (ICD), JAVAD GNSS tracked the L5 BPSK signal from both 1A and 1B satellites. Ability to track IRNSS L5 will be added to all JAVAD L5-capable receivers in the near future, the company said.
SNR of two passes of 1A satellite (IGSO) over Moscow.
Let’s All Be GPS III for Halloween
As this magazine goes to press on October 23, the U.S. Air Force is set to launch the eighth GPS IIF satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Wednesday, October 29. An 18-minute launch window will open at 1:21 p.m. U.S. Eastern time. If all goes well, the satellite will be accomplishing its early-orbit checkouts and beginning maneuvers towards its final orbital plane as U.S. children make their costumed Halloween rounds, collecting candy. Other Western countries celebrate All Hallows’ Eve followed by All Saints’ Day on November 1.
Enter GPS III. The long-awaited navigation payload for the next-generation satellite pulled into its new temporary home over the September 13 weekend, the Lockheed Martin Space Systems facility in Littleton, Colorado. Lockheed is the U.S. Air Force’s prime contractor for the first batch of eight GPS III satellites.
Exelis Geospatial Systems has committed to delivering the payloads for the second, third, and fourth GPS III satellites “right on the heels” of the first, according to Gen. John Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command. “If that’s the case, in the not-too-distant future GPS III will be in good shape,” he added. The first GPS III launch is now scheduled for 2016.
Exelis has built GPS payloads since the beginning of the program, but found new challenges over the last two years posed by advanced features of the modernized version. “First-time development and integration issues, including design changes to eliminate signal crosstalk” have set back the schedule.
According to reports, Lockheed Martin has a group of initial platforms readied on its production line to take the incoming payloads.
Still ahead, completion of acceptance testing following integration with the first satellite platform.
Earlier this year, Lockheed Martin issued a request for information on alternate payload providers, and received responses from five companies. In June, the Air Force issued a call for contractors interested in building the next batch of GPS IIIs. Northrop Grumman and Boeing have responded.
