WASHINGTON — In a project veiled in secrecy, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Dec. 16 at 7:52 p.m. Japanese from Cape Canaveral House Power Station, Florida, sending an army World Positioning Device (GPS) satellite tv for pc to a medium orbit about 12,000 miles above Earth.
Named Fast Reaction Trailblazer-1 (RRT-1), this project used to be a U.S. nationwide safety house release and used to be additionally supposed to show army functions to condense an ordinary two-year project making plans cycle to not up to six months.
RRT-1 used to be at first scheduled to boost off Dec. 13 however the release used to be scrubbed because of excessive winds. This used to be SpaceX’s 126th release of 2024.
About 8 mins after release, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster returned and landed on a drone send. SpaceX ended the livestream after the booster touchdown.
Transfer from Vulcan to Falcon 9The payload, GPS III SV-07, is the 7th satellite tv for pc of the GPS III constellation, constructed by way of Lockheed Martin. The satellite tv for pc were up to now slated for a overdue 2025 release aboard a United Release Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket however used to be reassigned to a SpaceX Falcon 9 this summer time.
“We made up our minds to tug SV-07 out of garage and check out to get it to the release pad as temporarily as imaginable,” Col. James Horne, senior materiel chief for release execution on the U.S. House Power’s House Techniques Command, advised SpaceNews. “It’s our approach of demonstrating that we will be conscious of operator wishes with NSSL-class missions.”
NSSL is the Nationwide Safety House Release program that launches high-value army and intelligence satellites.
In a departure from maximum different NSSL missions, the House Power and SpaceX maintained a low profile round release arrangements, with SpaceX most effective pronouncing the RRT-1 release on Dec. 13 with out disclosing its standing as a GPS and nationwide safety house project.
The verdict to boost up the release of SV-07 used to be made in mid-2024 when uncertainty across the Vulcan rocket’s readiness led House Power leaders to re-examine their choices. Horne emphasised that this transfer used to be much less about Vulcan delays and extra about checking out the limits of the NSSL program’s flexibility. “It is a approach for us to show to adversaries that we will be responsive,” he mentioned.
ULA’s Vulcan rocket remains to be looking ahead to legitimate certification to release NSSL missions. The automobile used to be at first assigned 3 GPS III launches — SV-07, SV-08 and SV-09 — and SpaceX were given SV-10.
Horne mentioned the satellites had been remanifested. As a result of SV-07 used to be reassigned to SpaceX, ULA gets to release SV-10.
Walt Lauderdale, leader of Falcon techniques and operations on the House Techniques Command, mentioned SpaceX’s familiarity with the GPS III program used to be instrumental in pulling off this project on a brief timeline. The corporate had up to now introduced 5 GPS III satellites.
“Our conventional release marketing campaign is a 24-month cycle,” mentioned Lauderdale.
Horne wired that the objective of the RRT-1 project used to be way over simply launching a GPS. It’s additionally in regards to the House Power finding out easy methods to be extra adaptive. “That’s why we’re calling it a trailblazer project,” he mentioned. “We’re looking to ship a message to an adversary that if a GPS asset have been focused, the US would have the ability to get every other one up temporarily.”
The House Power has up to now introduced “tactically responsive” house missions the use of small satellites and small release automobiles. The RRT-1 project used to be supposed to end up that the speedy deployment manner can also be carried out to bigger, extra complicated nationwide safety payloads like GPS.
A truck wearing the GPS III SV-07 spacecraft is noticed departing from a Lockheed Martin facility in Colorado to start out an epic highway travel around the nation to Florida. Credit score: Lockheed MartinCol. Andrew Menschner, commander of the House Power’s Challenge Delta 31, highlighted every other important purpose of RRT-1: checking out the facility to reply temporarily to an surprising technical failure within the GPS constellation. Whilst the present 31 lively satellites are in excellent well being, many are older than the army carrier individuals who set up them day by day.
Challenge Delta 31, primarily based in Colorado, operates the GPS constellation.
“We’re completely occupied with each and every alternative to replace the constellation,” Menschner mentioned. “Hanging up a brand new satellite tv for pc is helping upload resiliency to the gadget.”
Having the ability to pull off a GPS release as temporarily as used to be performed with SV-07, he mentioned, “is excellent news for the arena that is determined by GPS each day.”
SV-07 were sitting at a Lockheed Martin warehouse in Colorado since being declared launch-ready in August 2021.
In preparation for RRT-1, Challenge Delta 31 and Lockheed Martin labored to switch SV-07’s payload interface so it would release on a Falcon 9 as a substitute of a Vulcan rocket. This interface, known as payload release adapter, connects the spacecraft to the rocket.
As soon as finished, the satellite tv for pc used to be transported on a flatbed truck from Lockheed Martin’s location in Colorado to SpaceX’s integration facility at Cape Canaveral. In most cases, army plane would take care of such transfers, however Typhoon Helene restoration efforts had tied up the ones sources.
“That used to be most certainly some of the largest hindrances,” mentioned Malik Musawwir, vp of navigation techniques at Lockheed Martin House. “After which from there, it used to be off to the races.”
The satellite tv for pc’s adventure from Littleton, Colorado, to Cape Canaveral posed distinctive logistical demanding situations, Musawwir mentioned. With C-17 army shipment plane unavailable, planners carried out a floor survey to search out the most productive direction for transporting the satellite tv for pc over highways. The multi-day power required specialised apparatus, together with a climate-controlled container to give protection to the satellite tv for pc from temperature and humidity adjustments, and surprise absorbers to attenuate vibrations.
“Our groups labored tirelessly to verify the satellite tv for pc’s protection all through transit,” Musawwir mentioned. The container wearing SV-07 traveled on a truck in a caravan with an army escort and a backup automobile in case of any problems.
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