Page 28 - aruba-today-20181217

A28 SCIENCE
Monday 17 deceMber 2018
Next-generation of GPS satellites are headed to space

By DAN ELLIOTT required extra time to cer-
Associated Press tify the Falcon 9 for a GPS
DENVER (AP) — After mission.
months of delays, the U.S. The new ground control
Air Force is about to launch system, called OCX, is in
the first of a new genera- worse shape. OCX, which
tion of GPS satellites, de- is being developed by Ray-
signed to be more accu- theon, is at least four years
rate, secure and versatile. behind schedule and is ex-
But some of their most pected to cost $2.5 billion
highly touted features will more than the original $3.7
not be fully available until billion, Chaplain said.
2022 or later because of The Defense Department
problems in a companion has struggled with making
program to develop a new sure OCX meets cyberse-
ground control system for curity standards, she said. A
the satellites, government Pentagon review said both
auditors said. the government and Ray-
The satellite is scheduled to theon performed poorly on
lift off Tuesday from Cape the program.
Canaveral, Florida, aboard Raytheon has overcome
a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. the cybersecurity prob-
It's the first of 32 planned lems, and the program
GPS III satellites that will re- has been on budget and
place older ones now in on schedule for more than
orbit. Lockheed Martin is a year, said Bill Sullivan, a
building the new satellites Raytheon vice president in
outside Denver. the OCX system.
GPS is best-known for its Sullivan said the company
widespread civilian appli- is on track to deliver the
cations, from navigation to system to the Air Force in
time-stamping bank trans- June 2021, ahead of GAO's
actions. The Air Force esti- estimates.
mates that 4 billion people The Air Force has devel-
worldwide use the system. oped work-arounds so it
But it was developed by can launch and use GPS III
the U.S. military, which still satellites until OCX is ready
designs, launches and op- to go.
erates the system. The Air While the first GPS III waits
Force controls a constella- for liftoff in Florida, the sec-
tion of 31 GPS satellites from This March 22, 2016, photo provided by Lockheed Martin shows the first GPS III satellite inside the ond is complete and ready
a high-security complex at anechoic test facility at Lockheed Martin's complex south of Denver. to be transported to Cape
Schriever Air Force Base Associated Press Canaveral. It sits in a cav-
outside Colorado Springs. ernous "clean room" at a
Compared with their pre- civilian receivers capable Current civilian GPS re- Chaplain said the new ci- Lockheed Martin complex
decessors, GPS III satellites of receiving the new signal ceivers are accurate to vilian frequency won't be in the Rocky Mountain foot-
will have a stronger military will have more satellites to within 10 to 33 feet (3 to available at all until the new hills south of Denver.
signal that's harder to jam lock in on, improving accu- 10 meters), depending on control system is ready. It's expected to launch
— an improvement that racy. conditions, said Glen Gib- The price of the first 10 sat- next summer, although the
became more urgent after "If your phone is looking bons, the founder and for- ellites is estimated at $577 exact date hasn't been an-
Norway accused Russia of for satellites, the more it mer editor of Inside GNSS, million each, up about 6 nounced, said Jonathon
disrupting GPS signals dur- can see, the more it can a website and magazine percent from the original Caldwell, vice president of
ing a NATO military exercise know where it is," said Chip that tracks global naviga- 2008 estimate when adjust- Lockheed Martin's GPS pro-
this fall. Eschenfelder, a Lockheed tion satellite systems. ed for inflation, Chaplain gram.
GPS III also will provide a Martin spokesman. With the new satellites, civil- said. Six other GPS satellites are
new civilian signal compat- The new satellites are ex- ian receivers could be ac- The Air Force said in Sep- under construction in the
ible with other countries' pected to provide loca- curate to within 3 to 10 feet tember it expects the re- clean room, which is care-
navigation satellites, such tion information that's three (1 to 3 meters) under good maining 22 satellites to cost fully protected against dust
as the European Union's times more accurate than conditions, and military $7.2 billion, but the GAO and other foreign particles.
Galileo system. That means the current satellites. receivers could be a little estimated the cost at $12 "It's the highest-volume
closer, he said. billion. production line in space,"
Only some aspects of the The first GPS III satellite was Caldwell said.
stronger, jamming-resistant declared ready nearly 2½ For the first time, the Air
military signal will be avail- years behind schedule. Force is assigning nick-
able until a new and com- The problems included de- names to the GPS III satel-
plex ground control system lays in the delivery of key lites. The first one is Vespuc-
is available, and that is not components, retesting of ci, after Amerigo Vespucci,
expected until 2022 or 2023, other components and a the Italian navigator whose
said Cristina Chaplain, who decision by the Air Force name was adopted by
tracks GPS and other pro- to use a Falcon 9 rocket early mapmakers for the
grams for the Government for the first time for a GPS continents of the Western
Accountability Office. launch, Chaplain said. That Hemisphere.q