Official Spacex Gps Iii Sv01 Mission Patch
Official Spacex Gps Iii Sv01 Mission Patch
Official Spacex Gps Iii Sv01 Mission Patch
The United States’ Global Positioning System delivers positioning, navigation, and timing services
supporting vital U.S. and allied operations worldwide, and underpins critical financial, transportation, and
agricultural infrastructure that billions of users have come to depend on daily.
The United States Air Force’s first GPS III satellite will augment the current constellation of 31 operational
GPS satellites. This newest generation of GPS satellites is designed and built to deliver positioning,
navigation, and timing information with three times better accuracy, and up to eight times improved anti-
jamming capability. GPS is used by over four billion users and supports critical missions worldwide.
GPS is a National Security Space (NSS) mission, critical to national defense. In April 2016, SpaceX was
awarded its first NSS mission, GPS III SV01. SpaceX currently has an additional four GPS III missions on
contract, all of which will be launched on Falcon 9.
Hour/Min/Sec Events
00:01:04 Max Q (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)
00:02:44 1st stage main engine cutoff (MECO)
00:02:48 1st and 2nd stages separate
00:02:50 2nd stage engine starts
00:03:22 Fairing deployment
00:08:16 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-1)
01:08:51 2nd stage engine restarts
01:09:37 2nd stage engine cutoff (SECO-2)
01:56:17 GPS III SV01 deployment
The center of the complex is composed of the concrete launch pad and flame diverter system.
Surrounding the pad are four lightning towers, propellant storage tanks, and the integration hangar.
Before launch, Falcon 9’s stages and payload are housed inside the hangar. The payload is mated to the
Falcon 9 inside SLC-40’s hangar on the transporter erector. The rocket and payload are then rolled out
from the hangar to the launch pad and lifted to a vertical position.