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SpaceX has successfully launched its third GPS III navigation satellite and simultaneously confirmed that the Falcon 9 repeater, now in flight, will soon support the first operational US military launch on a proven commercial rocket.
Known as GPS III Space Vehicle 04 (SV04), the ~ 3700 kg (~ 8150 lb) navigation satellite will join three other upgraded spacecraft launched since December 2018, two of which have flown on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. GPS III launch contracts that the US military has awarded so far, SpaceX has secured all but one, resulting in a total of $ 474 million for an average cost per launch of just $ 95 million, saving probably more than 50 million dollars per launch relative. to comparable ULA contracts.
In June 2020, the US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (USAF SMC) took the next step towards even more affordable launches, allowing SpaceX to retrieve its Booster Falcon 9 after future military missions. Just three months after that milestone and the successful post-GPS III SV03 landing of the Falcon 9 Booster B1060, SMC took the most important step, announcing that it has reached an agreement with SpaceX to reuse the Falcon 9 Boosters on two upcoming launches of GPS III.
SMC announced the contract change at the end of September, revealing that the Booster Falcon 9 (B1062) awarded for the launch of GPS III SV04 no earlier than September 30, 2020 would be reused in future GPS III missions SV05 and SV06, eventually cutting nearly $ 53 million in the cost of launching GPS III satellites SV03 to SV06.
Unfortunately for the B1062, the debut of the SpaceX rocket’s GPS III SV04 rocket launch was initially delayed by the unrelated launch delays of the competitor ULA, followed by a last-second shutdown on October 2 after the rocket detected behavior anomalous in two of its nine Merlin 1D engines. SpaceX ultimately traced the problem to a faulty quality assurance and blocked ventilation line, replaced both motors (and several more on different boosters), and completed a second static fire on October 31.
On November 5, things finally came together for the company and the Falcon 9 B1062, a new upper stage and payload fairing, a GPS III SV04 took off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) LC-40 launch pad. ) of SpaceX. The previously un-flown booster worked perfectly, eventually completing a soft landing on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) after sending the satellite and upper stage into orbit. About eight minutes after takeoff, the Falcon 9’s second stage shut down, remained in orbit for 55 minutes, re-ignited for 45 seconds, and continued for another 25 minutes before finally releasing the GPS III SV04 to complete the mission. .
Mission complete and Falcon 9 B1062 intact and soon to be secured aboard the OCISLY drone ship, SpaceX has now fully opened the door to reuse the same booster to launch GPS III SV05 and SV06. In the course of its announcement, SMC did not state that SpaceX’s GPS III SV05 mission had been delayed from January to July 2021 to allow the extremely cautious customer to “validate” SpaceX’s reuse process. If successful, SpaceX will likely run the same booster – B1062 – a third time to launch GPS III SV06 no earlier than (NET) Q3 2021.
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