SpaceX Falcon 9 - GPS III SV01

  SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 - GPS III SV01 - Launching December 23, 2018

Screenshot of GPS III SV01 with Everyday Astronaut Tim Dodd as host

Mission Rundown: SpaceX Falcon 9 B5 - GPS III SV01

Written: January 10, 2021

Lift Off Time	December 23, 2018 - 13:51 UTC - 08:51 EST
Mission Name	GPS III SV01
Launch Provider	SpaceX
Customer	United States Air Force
Rocket	Falcon 9 Block 5 serial number B1054
Launch Location	Space Launch Complex 40 - SLC 40 Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida
Payload	GPS-III SV01 - USA-289 - Vespucci
Payload mass	3 880 kg ~ 8 553  pounds
Where did the satellite go?	Medium Earth Orbit - 20 200 km ~ 25 500 miles
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage?	No. It’s flying “bareback” without grid fins, landing legs, actuators, hydraulics to maximize payload mass
Where will the first stage land?	860 km downrange in the Atlantic Ocean and 110 km offshore at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings?	No. Recovery ships are not available due to rough seas and bad weather - Davy Jones got them both
Are these fairings new? Fairing types described in last chapter	Yes - Type 2.2 lifeboat sized fairings - 34 x 17 feet with 8 ventilation ports and a heat resisting steel tip
This will be the:	– 66th flight of all Falcon 9 rockets – 10th flight of Falcon 9 Block 5 – 6th maiden flight of a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket – 39th SpaceX launch from SLC-40 – 34th crash landing, soft, hard, deliberate, Ups... – 17th deliberate loss of a Falcon 9 booster – 21st mission for SpaceX in 2018
Where to watch Where to read more	SpaceX link Other Tim Dodd on GPS III SV01 December 23, 2018

Launch debriefing (This is what happend)

- - - T-00:06:27 Hosts: T 00:00:00 T+00:01:22 T+00:02:49 - T+00:02:58 T+00:03:29 T+00:08:20 Splash - - - T+00:25:54 T+01:08:53 - - - T+01:56:01 T+01:58:54

Pre Launch Run Down from 3:15 Q&A, explanations and tweets from 9:00 First confirmed explaining on Starship/Hopper SpaceX live feed at 26:37 Michael Andrews and Siva Bharadvaj Liftoff at 33:05 MaxQ at 34:27 (2-3 seconds delay on downlink) MECO 35:55, stage separation 35:57 0 to 9 552 km/h in 2:49 Altitude 83,1 km SES-1 at 36:03 Faring separation at 36:34 SECO at 41:25 and coasting Sacrificial 6th Maiden sent to Davy Jones locker Q&A with explanations and tweeting from 42:49 Launch day offer on merchandise at 1:14:05 More Q&A with explanations until 1:38:46 SpaceX resumes live feed at 1:38:44 SES-2 - SECO-2 in 49 seconds gave a velocity boost from 24 036 km/h to 31 403 km/h at 1:42:02 Q&A from 1:43:42 Rap up from Tim Dodd at 1:59:58 SpaceX Webcast live at 02:02:54 in their stream SpaceX Webcast shows deployment at 2:05:46

Spaceflight SSO-A	CRS-16	GPS III SV01	Iridium-8 Next	Nusantara Satu Beresheet
DM-1	FH-2 Arabsat-6A	CRS-17	Starlink V0.9 L0	RADARSAT

I’m drunk. I have lost my way home

SpaceX is being commissioned by the US Air Force to launch the first Third Generation Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite to orbit. This was originally planned as the second GPS launch with ULA launching the first. The US Air Force changed the order of launches because SpaceX sued the US Government to get the launch contract in a bidding war with ULA, who had won a 36 launch-block without competitive bidding from SpaceX.

After the lawsuit was dropped, the Air Force followed through on its promise and publicly requested fixed-price contract bids for the launch of the second GPS III satellite. The competitive bid was submitted as part of the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program – the “Expendable” part of which being a holdover from the era of full expendability of rockets.  The Falcon 9 is an expendable part of the EELV program even though it is capable of being recovered and reused.

Screenshot of the GPS III SV01 mission view by Geoff Barrett

The Falcon 9 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). This is a new block 5 booster, 1054, but it will not be recovered. To maximize the payload’s performance “~9 500 km/h at SECO-2”, there are no landing legs or grid fins attached to the booster.

The US Air Force wanted a certain type of expendable rocket, so they paid for several, but they got a new reusable rocket type, so they forced SpaceX to sacrifice a maiden rocket just because they could. One thing SpaceX is good at is building rocket fuel tanks in bulks. ULA can't keep up with their honing and milling thick aluminum plate to get an isometric pattern into the rocket tank walls to serve as structural reinforcement.

At least it's known how much juice ‘speed’ Falcon 9 can squeeze out.

The payload

Under the military designation USA-289, also known as GPS-III SV01 or Vespucci, is an United States navigation satellite which forms part of the Global Positioning System. It was the first GPS Block III satellite to be launched.

The heavy Satellite Vehicle SV01 - 3 880 kg ~ 8 553 lb - was launched on 23 December 2018 at 13:51 UTC atop expendable Falcon 9 Block 5 booster B1054, by SpaceX. The launch took place from SLC-40 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), placing SV01 directly into semi-synchronous orbit.

Screenshot of GPS III SV01 from SpaceX Webcast. It’s a biggie.

Under the build contract, Lockheed Martin served as prime manufacturer and provided the A2100 bus structure for the satellites. Additionally, Orbital ATK, now Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, provided the propellant tanks, the pressure tanks and the propulsion jets, and Northrop Grumman Astro Aerospace provided the eight deployable JIB antennas.

Under the administration of President Barack Obama, the Next Generation GPS Operational Control System contract was awarded to Raytheon on 25 February 2010 to build the ground control system for the GPS III satellites.

The first GPS III satellite was originally to launch in 2014, And was scheduled to be taken to orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV M+ rocket, but delays due to late technology, late build deliveries and lawsuits pushed the launch into december 2018.

Author Tim Dodd link

Coauthor/Text Retriever Johnny Nielsen link to launch list