While the competition for its launch in the end came to nothing after ULA pulled out, the first GPS satellite (believed to be GPS IIIA-2) to be launched by Falcon 9 was officially signed to SpaceX’s rocket. The news was announced on 27 April 2016. The contract with the US Air Force was valued at US$82.7 million which is circa 30% higher than the commercial price due to certification expenses. The launch will take place in May 2018. While SpaceX has long had US government business via its NASA commercial resupply services (CRS) contracts, the launch order is the first breakthrough one with the US military.
GPS IIIA-2 satellite launch order goes to SpaceX Falcon 9
by David Todd | Apr 28, 2016 | Launches, Military space, SpaceX | 0 comments
About Seradata
Seradata produce the renowned SpaceTrak Launch & Satellite Database. Trusted by 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, SpaceTrak is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).
For more information go to www.seradata.com/spacetrak
Related Articles
The failure investigation set up by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) into the launch failure of the maiden flight Read more
At 0758 GMT on 2 February 2023 a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 successfully launched 53 Starlink Gen2 satellites (Group 5-3) Read more
A Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 was launched from the Vandenberg Space Force base in California at 1615 GMT on 31 Read more
Just as Ukraine's military campaign has been supported by US commercial spacecraft operating firms — with SpaceX and Maxar providing Read more
On 26 January 2023, at 0932 GMT, a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 successfully launched 56 Starlink Gen2 satellites from Space Read more
Kicking off its launch year, Japan has placed a radar reconnaissance satellite into near-500 km sun-synchronous low Earth orbit (LEO). Read more
European launch service company Isar Aerospace and US-based Spaceflight, which offers rides to orbit for satellites, have announced a multi-launch Read more
Nuclear Thermal rocket propulsion has been mooted since the 1960s. The idea is to use nuclear power to heat rocket Read more
Recent Posts
- Upgrade to ISS continues as EVA prepares for additional solar arrays
- SSLV failure cause: Violent second stage separation triggered chain of events which prevented SSLV final stage burn to stable orbit
- Starlink Group 5-3 is launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9
- South Korea confirms shift of two missions from Russian launchers; Kompsat 6 goes to Arianespace and CAS500-2 goes back to international market
- SpaceX launches another batch of Starlinks plus ION-SCV9 delivery spacecraft testing separation system