USAF launches new LM GPS II R-M satellite
25 Mar 2008
Cape Canaveral: The US Air Force successfully launched the sixth of a projected eight GPS Block IIR-M satellites on 15 March. The satellites are being launched to upgrade the Global Positioning System satellite constellation. This was also the third successful satellite launch in less than five months.
Another two, of a total of eight Block IIR-M satellites, are scheduled for launch later this year.
Lockheed Martin, which constructed the modernized Global Positioning System Block IIR-M satellite, said it was put into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station by a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II launch vehicle.
Lockheed said the comsat's designation was GPS IIR-19M and that it was the sixth of eight GPS IIR satellites that Lockheed Martin Navigation Systems, Valley Forge, Pa., was upgrading under a contract with the Global Positioning Systems Wing, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.
According to Lockheed, every IIR-M satellite is equipped with a modernized antenna panel that gives it boosted signal power for receivers on the ground, two new military signals for improved accuracy, enhanced encryption and anti-jamming capabilities for the US armed forces, and a second civilian signal that can give users an open access signal on a different frequency.
"All of us at Lockheed Martin are proud of our long-standing partnership with the Air Force and the Block IIR-M's impressive record of performance," said Don DeGryse, Lockheed Martin's vice president of Navigation Systems.
"We look forward to conducting another timely and efficient on-orbit checkout so that the war fighter and civil users around the globe can benefit from this satellite's advanced navigational capabilities as quickly as possible."
