El GPS III SV03 aumenta el n\u00famero de sat\u00e9lites habilitados con c\u00f3digo militar seguro (c\u00f3digo M) en la constelaci\u00f3n GPS a 22 en total. “Como naci\u00f3n, usamos se\u00f1ales de GPS todos los d\u00edas: marcan todas nuestras transacciones financieras, hacen que la aviaci\u00f3n sea segura, hacen posible la agricultura de precisi\u00f3n y mucho m\u00e1s”, agreg\u00f3 Ladwig. \u201cEl GPS se ha convertido en una parte cr\u00edtica de nuestra infraestructura nacional.”<\/p>\n
After a successful launch on June 30<\/a>, the third Lockheed Martin-built GPS III satellite headed to orbit under its own propulsion. The satellite separated from its rocket and used onboard power to climb to its operational orbit, approximately 12,550 miles above the Earth.<\/p>\n GPS III Space Vehicle 03<\/a>\u00a0is responding to commands from U.S. Space Force and Lockheed Martin engineers in the Launch & Checkout Center at the company\u2019s Denver facility. There, they declared rocket booster separation and satellite control about\u00a090 minutes after the satellite\u2019s\u00a0June 30 launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the coming days, GPS III SV03\u2019s onboard liquid apogee engines will continue to propel the satellite towards its operational orbit,\u201d said Tonya Ladwig, Lockheed Martin\u2019s acting vice president for Navigation Systems. \u201cOnce it arrives, we\u2019ll send the satellite commands to deploy its solar arrays and antennas, and prepare the satellite for handover to Space Operations Command.\u201d<\/p>\n After on-orbit testing, GPS III SV03 is expected to join the GPS constellation \u2014 including GPS III SV01 and SV02, which were declared operational in January and April \u2014 in providing positioning, navigation and timing signals for more than four billion military, civil and commercial users.<\/p>\n Lockheed Martin designed GPS III<\/a> to help the Space Force modernize the GPS constellation<\/a> with new technology and capabilities. The new GPS IIIs provide three times better accuracy and up to eight times improved anti-jamming capabilities over any previous GPS satellite. They also offer a new L1C civil signal, which is compatible with other international global navigation satellite systems, like Europe\u2019s Galileo, to improve civilian user connectivity.<\/p>\n GPS III also continues the Space Force\u2019s plan to field M-code, a more-secure, harder-to-jam and spoof GPS signal for our military forces. GPS III SV03 brings the number of M-code enabled satellites to 22 in the 31-satellite GPS constellation.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a nation, we use GPS signals every day \u2014 they time-stamp all our financial transactions, they make aviation safe, they make precision farming possible, and so much more,\u201d added Ladwig. \u201cGPS has become a critical part of our national infrastructure. In fact, the U.S. economic benefit of GPS is estimated to be over $300 billion per year and $1.4 trillion since its inception. Continued investment in modernizing GPS \u2014 updating technology, improving its capabilities \u2014 is well worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n