Video: Launch of GPS IIF-11 satellite

The U.S. Air Force's 45th Space Wing supported the launch of a Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 on Saturday. GPS IIF-11 was the 16th launch this year for the wing.

The integrated team is currently preparing GPS IIF-12, the last model of the series, for launch in early 2016. An Airmen-led processing team at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., has processed every launch of the series since GPS IIF-1 launched in May 2010.

According to the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, the GPS constellation is healthy, stable and robust with two GPS IIAs, 12 GPS IIRs, seven GPS IIR-Ms, and 10 GPS IIF satellites on orbit providing precise global positioning, navigation, and timing services to users around the globe.

SpaceX rocket now eligible to launch national security satellites

Air Force Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center and Air Force Program Executive Officer for Space, has announced the certification of Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s (SpaceX) Falcon 9 rocket for national security space missions.

“SpaceX is now eligible for award of qualified national security space launch missions as one of two currently certified launch providers,” Air Force officials said in a press statement. “The first upcoming opportunity for SpaceX to compete to provide launch services is projected to be in June when the Air Force releases a Request for Proposal for Global Positioning System III launch services.

"SpaceX's emergence as a viable commercial launch provider provides the opportunity to compete launch services for the first time in almost a decade,” said Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James. “Ultimately, leveraging of the commercial space market drives down cost to the American taxpayer and improves our military's resiliency."

The Air Force invested more than $60 million and 150 people in the certification effort which encompassed 125 certification criteria, including more than 2,800 discreet tasks, three certification flight demonstrations, verifying 160 payload interface requirements, 21 major subsystem reviews and 700 audits in order to establish the technical baseline from which the Air Force will make future flight worthiness determinations for launch.

Video: Boeing confirms new GPS satellite in orbit and healthy

The ninth Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF reached orbit about three hours, 20 minutes after launching Wednesday aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and sent signals confirming its health.

“Boeing, ULA and the Air Force successfully launched four GPS IIFs last year, the highest operations tempo in over 20 years, and today’s mission marks the first of three launches planned in 2015,” said Dan Hart, vice president, Boeing Government Space Systems. “As they enter service, the IIFs are advancing and modernizing the GPS constellation by improving accuracy, signal strength and anti-jamming capability. We are also introducing the L-5 civilian ‘safety-of-life’ signal intended mainly for aviation and transportation.”

The GPS IIF-9, designated as SVN-71, will undergo on-orbit testing and checkout before beginning full operation.

Boeing has served as a prime contractor on GPS since the program’s inception, contributing multiple generations of GPS satellites and accruing more than 525 years of on-orbit operation.

Air Force taking steps to correct GPS satellite error

A Global Positioning System (GPS) message indexing issue was recently identified that affects a limited number of active GPS IIF satellites, but does not degrade the accuracy of the GPS signal received by users around the globe, Air Force officials said on Monday.

The result is an occasional broadcast not in accordance with U.S. technical specifications. The issue appears to be related to the ground software that builds and uploads messages transmitted by the GPS constellation during regular system operations, although the Air Force continues to investigate all possible causes.

Although the issue was brought to light in the last few days, a close examination of archived GPS message data reveals that the message indexing error has gone unnoticed since 2013.  Air Force Space Command has implemented a workaround to prevent further message indexing violations and is taking steps to permanently correct the error.

GPS, a large unaddressed critical infrastructure problem

If the complex satellite system that supports our country's global positioning system ever goes down, there's no backup. Cell phones, navigation systems, timing services and even critical defense programs are at risk.

Industry leaders from Google, Exelis, UrsaNav and other companies that depend on disaster-proof location and timing services are meeting at the annual Resilient Navigation and Timing (RNT) Foundation's dinner at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, DC on April 8.

The dinner's keynote speaker is Google's Vint Cerf, the "father of the Internet.” Terry Halvorsen, the CIO for the Department of Defense will also be speaking.

"The need for a difficult-to-disrupt system to complement the Global Positioning System (GPS) has been well known for years,” says RNT Foundation President Dana Goward. “GPS is exceptionally accurate and dependable, yet jamming, spoofing, cyber attacks and other forms of interference appear to be growing in frequency and severity. This has the potential for devastating effects on our lives and economic activity.”

In the meantime, the U.S. Air Force is prepared the ninth Global Positioning System (GPS) 2F satellite for launch on March 25 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

GPS satellites reach 200 collective years of operational life

The U.S. Air Force's fleet of Global Positioning System (GPS) Block IIR and IIR-M satellites, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, have reached 200 collective years of operational life. These 20 satellites -- about two thirds of the current GPS constellation - help deliver precise positioning, navigation and timing services to more than one billion global military, civilian and commercial users every day.

Originally launched between 1997 and 2009 to add capabilities to the GPS constellation and to replace other aging satellites, the 12 GPS IIR and eight IIR-M satellites have maintained an unprecedented availability record of 99.96 percent. That represents only 10 minutes of down time per satellite during all their years of operation.

The GPS IIR and IIR-M satellites were designed to last 7.5 years, or collectively about 150 years. All 12 IIR satellites are currently operating beyond their design life with the oldest operating for more than 16.5 years. Three of eight GPS IIR-M satellites have surpassed their expected life span and all satellites will have done so in 2017.

GPS III

To meet evolving GPS user demands, Lockheed Martin is already developing the next generation GPS III satellites. These satellites will deliver three times better accuracy, provide up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities, and include enhancements which 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.

GPS satellite operating properly after launch

A Boeing-built Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellite, launched Friday, has sent the signals to controllers that confirm it is currently operating properly within the constellation that millions of people rely on for timing and navigation information.

GPS IIF-7 was launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas-5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It is the seventh of 12 such satellites Boeing has built for the U.S. Air Force, and the third on-orbit delivery this year.

Boeing and the Air Force will complete the full on-orbit checkout of the satellite next month. The GPS IIFs offer improved signal accuracy, better anti-jamming capability, longer design life and the new civilian L5 signal.

Created by the Department of Defense to enhance U.S. military warfighting capability, GPS is available for use, free of charge, to anyone with a GPS receiver. U.S. and allied military forces use GPS devices in virtually every system to improve their capabilities and effectiveness. From finance to farming to tracking packages, use by the civilian community continues to grow rapidly and new commercial applications are continuously being developed.

GPS IIF-7, launched Friday, is the seventh in a series of next-generation GPS satellites and will join a worldwide timing and navigation system utilizing satellites positioned in orbit above the Earth's surface. The sixth GPS IIF was launched May 16. GPS IIF-8, slated for launch during the fourth quarter, arrived at Cape Canaveral on July 16 to undergo final launch preparations.