The Space Force successfully launched its seventh GPS III satellite into orbit Dec. 16—shaving more than a year and a half off the typical timeline for launching the highest priority national security spacecraft and switching rocket providers to do it.
All told, it took less than five months to pull the satellite from storage, integrate it with the launch vehicle, and go through readiness checks and processing, according to a joint release from the service’s Space Systems Command and Space Operations Command.
That stands in contrast to the two years it typically takes to prep for a launch as part of the National Security Space Launch program, reserved for the Pentagon and Intelligence Community’s most important missions.
Appropriately, the mission was dubbed RRT-1, for Rapid Response Trailblazer.
The launch, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., was atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Back in May 2022, Space Systems Command awarded the launch task order for the GPS III-7 mission to United Launch Alliance, but ULA does not currently have a system certified for NSSL missions—its new Vulcan Centaur rocket is waiting certification, and its Atlas V rocket had its last launch in July 2024.
As a result, new GPS III satellites that had been declared “ready for launch” were put into storage waiting for a ride to space. Last month, SSC commander Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant hinted that his team was “certainly looking at options to go faster,” specifically by “looking at some of the other GPS missions and the timing of those that have been manifested on SpaceX.”
The command awarded a task order for the next satellite in the series, GPS III-8, to ULA but had not announced plans for the last two editions, GPS III-9 and GPS III-10.
Garrant insisted at the time that the GPS constellation was healthy and the service did not need to rush new satellites into orbit. But on Dec. 17, Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Schiess—commander of Space Forces-Space, the service component to the combatant command—said he was eager to get the new birds up, hailing SSC for completing the process so quickly.
“We have been harping on getting more GPS III satellites on orbit to be able to give us more M-code,” Schiess said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, referring to the jam-resistant GPS signal for military use.
While other GPS satellites can transmit M-code, the GPS III spacecraft can take advantage of the full capability, including the ability to beam the signal at target areas.
Besides adding more capability to the constellation, the launch also marked another opportunity for the Space Force to speed up its processes for getting satellites into space, as part of an effort called Tactically Responsive Space.
Preparing for a scenario in which it might have to rapidly launch new satellites to replenish constellations after an attack, the Space Force set a record in September 2023 when it launched its “Victus Nox” mission, taking a satellite from the warehouse to orbit in five days. Still more “Victus” missions aimed at going even faster are planned.
But those missions involve smaller payloads and are not part of NSSL, which requires lower risk and higher assurance that the mission will succeed. Meeting that standard for GPS III-7 while slashing months off the timeline required a “twofold” effort from SSC and Space Operations Command, a service release stated, especially after GPS III-7 switched to SpaceX to take advantage of its NSSL-capable rocket.
That the launch still happened so fast despite the turbulence “is a testament to our flexibility and responsiveness,” Col. Jim Horne, senior materiel leader of launch execution for the Assured Access to Space office, said in a statement.
SpOC worked with satellite-maker Lockheed Martin to pull the satellite from storage and finish pre-launch processing in about three months. The launch also marked a milestone for the newly stood-up Mission Delta 31, responsible for position, navigation, and timing, according to commander Col. Andrew Menschner.
“This launch showed our ability to respond quickly to an operational need, such as an on-orbit vehicle failure of the GPS constellation, as well as demonstrating our willingness to challenge traditional timelines associated with launches in response to a realistic scenario,” Menschner said in a statement.
It remains to be seen whether GPS III-8 will stick with Vulcan Centaur as its launch vehicle. ULA hopes for certification soon but has a backlog of government missions. The eighth GPS launch had been set for early 2025.