SpaceX Falcon 9 : GPS III SV01 : SLC-40 : Dec. 23, 2018 - DISCUSSION

[AncientU]

Sounds like the first will be GPS III-01

Cristina Chaplain, a military space systems director at the Government Accountability Office, said in an e-mail that the latest problem “undermines the faith in the progress, if any, that the government and contractor may have been making in turning around a culture that has led to multiyear delays” and cost increases.

The Air Force has decided to accept the first satellite even if its capacitors may be flawed because removing them could delay the delivery until October and cost about $70 million, Teague wrote to the congressional staff. The Air Force is confident in the first satellite’s overall reliability based on 3,000 hours of cumulative testing, Teague said.

The Air Force will have to pay to replace the suspect capacitors on the second and third satellites. That’s because the satellites are being developed under cost-reimbursement-type contracts, which require the Pentagon to pay for cost increases, the service said.

[kevin-rf]

Am I reading it correctly, that it is not the caps are actually flawed, but the proper life cycle testing was not done on the flight caps, or caps in the same batch, but on caps from a different "batch", maybe even the same type?

And the reason the Air Force is willing to proceed is what testing that has been done is good enough for them to "feel" that the caps in question are at low risk of actually failing over the expected life?

While a mess to be sure, and personally of the opinion that Harris/Lockheed should be eating the cost on this. It raises other questions on both companies processes. It sounds like this singular issue should not affect the actual satellite long term. Of course, what else slipped through the fingers is a larger question.

[Comga]

Second Lockheed Martin GPS III Satellite Successfully Completes Test Simulating Strenuous Launch Environment
GPS III Space Vehicle 02 Completes Acoustic Testing

DENVER, Sept. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Launch is the most strenuous part of a satellite's life. To survive the extreme sound wave pressure and pounding vibrations generated by more than 700,000 lbs. of thundering rocket thrust, spacecraft need a solid, reliable design if they hope to arrive operational on orbit.

(snip)

SOURCE Lockheed Martin

Isn't 700,000 lbs a relatively small value?
A current F9 is well over 1e6 kbf.
Why would LM do that?

[Steven Pietrobon]

Isn't 700,000 lbs a relatively small value?
A current F9 is well over 1e6 kbf.
Why would LM do that?

I think its just a typo. They meant to write 1,700,000 lbf.

[gongora]

U.S. Air Force Declares First Lockheed Martin GPS III Satellite "Available for Launch"
GPS III Space Vehicle 01 (GPS III SV01) expected to launch in 2018

DENVER, Oct. 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ushering in a new era of advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, the U.S. Air Force declared the first Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT)-built GPS III satellite "Available for Launch."

The Air Force's "AFL" declaration is the final acceptance of Lockheed Martin's first GPS III Space Vehicle (GPS III SV01) prior to its expected 2018 launch. GPS III SV01 will bring new capabilities to U.S. and allied military forces, and a new civil signal that will improve future connectivity worldwide for commercial and civilian users.

GPS III SV01 now awaits a call up to begin pre-launch preparations. In the meantime, the advanced satellite is stored in an environmentally-controlled clean room, where engineers can perform maintenance and continue to service the satellite.
...

[beidou]

[beidou]

Do we have an approximate launch date for this mission?

[gongora]

Do we have an approximate launch date for this mission?

I haven't seen one.  If it's still launching second then it may be a while.

[Steven Pietrobon]

An image was posted in the ULA GPS III-1 thread that showed how integration of GPS would be performed at SpaceX. Attached is a cropped and enlarged section of that image.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=30912.msg1751112#msg1751112

[gongora]

Here is a whole slide deck from September that contains the page Beidou posted.  It gives some more schedule details, but I found the parts about the software readiness confusing (one part says April 2019 but I'm not sure if that is needed for launch?)  The dates given for ILC are Q2-2018 for SV01 and Q4-2018 for SV02.

[Jim]

An image was posted in the ULA GPS III-1 thread that showed how integration of GPS would be performed at SpaceX. Attached is a cropped and enlarged section of that image.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=30912.msg1751112#msg1751112

That is the standard for all Spacex launches

[Sam Ho]

Here is a whole slide deck from September that contains the page Beidou posted.  It gives some more schedule details, but I found the parts about the software readiness confusing (one part says April 2019 but I'm not sure if that is needed for launch?)  The dates given for ILC are Q2-2018 for SV01 and Q4-2018 for SV02.

There are two software systems in the ground segment; the software readiness requires development in both systems.

The current system is the Operational Control Segment Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP) from Lockheed Martin.  The new system is the Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX) from Raytheon.  As originally designed, AEP had no ability to control GPS IIIA, and OCX had no ability to control GPS IIA.  OCX is very late and over budget, and is among the top acquisition disasters in recent history.

As a result, the ground segment plan has been revised as follows:
OCX Block 0 provides launch and checkout only for GPS IIIA.  USAF accepted OCX Block 0 earlier this month.
AEP Contingency Operations (COps) gives AEP the ability to control GPS IIIA.  This is due to come on line in 2019.
AEP M-Code Early Use (MCEU), planned for 2020, enables the military M-code signal.
OCX Block 1&2 gives OCX the ability to control the GPS constellation operationally, and will allow AEP to be retired.  This is scheduled for 2022.

OCX Block 0 is needed for launch.  COps is needed to add GPS IIIA to the operational constellation. 

http://www.losangeles.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1361778/air-force-accepts-delivery-of-gps-next-generation-operational-control-system/

[Brovane]

An image was posted in the ULA GPS III-1 thread that showed how integration of GPS would be performed at SpaceX. Attached is a cropped and enlarged section of that image.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=30912.msg1751112#msg1751112

Doesn't this animation imply that the payload will be horizontally integrated? 

[Steven Pietrobon]

Doesn't this animation imply that the payload will be horizontally integrated? 

Yes and no. GPS is vertically integrated onto the PAF (Payload Attach Fitting) with the fairings vertically encapsulated. The whole thing is then rotated and horizontally integrated with the second stage. As Jim said, this is the way SpaceX integrates all their payloads.

[Ragmar]

Here is a whole slide deck from September that contains the page Beidou posted.  It gives some more schedule details, but I found the parts about the software readiness confusing (one part says April 2019 but I'm not sure if that is needed for launch?)  The dates given for ILC are Q2-2018 for SV01 and Q4-2018 for SV02.

There are two software systems in the ground segment; the software readiness requires development in both systems.

The current system is the Operational Control Segment Architecture Evolution Plan (AEP) from Lockheed Martin.  The new system is the Next Generation Operational Control System (OCX) from Raytheon.  As originally designed, AEP had no ability to control GPS IIIA, and OCX had no ability to control GPS IIA.  OCX is very late and over budget, and is among the top acquisition disasters in recent history.

As a result, the ground segment plan has been revised as follows:
OCX Block 0 provides launch and checkout only for GPS IIIA.  USAF accepted OCX Block 0 earlier this month.
AEP Contingency Operations (COps) gives AEP the ability to control GPS IIIA.  This is due to come on line in 2019.
AEP M-Code Early Use (MCEU), planned for 2020, enables the military M-code signal.
OCX Block 1&2 gives OCX the ability to control the GPS constellation operationally, and will allow AEP to be retired.  This is scheduled for 2022.

OCX Block 0 is needed for launch.  COps is needed to add GPS IIIA to the operational constellation. 

http://www.losangeles.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1361778/air-force-accepts-delivery-of-gps-next-generation-operational-control-system/

This is helpful.

So will they launch it (with OCX ready) in May?  Or will they wait till COps is ready to launch it?

[gongora]

SpaceX will be launching GPS III-1 NET May 2018 instead of GPS III-2.  I'll get these threads sorted out at some point tonight.

GAO: GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (Dec. 12, 2017)

Independent of OCX development, the Air Force moved the first GPS III target launch date from March to May 2018 in the spring of 2017. According to Air Force officials, the change was the result of a decision to launch the first GPS III satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket, rather than a Delta IV.

edit: I found the GAO report via a tweet from Marcia Smith

[gongora]

From the GAO report:

The first GPS III satellite is projected to complete operational testing of legacy signal capabilities in September 2019. By that point, the Air Force plans to have launched 3 of the 10 GPS III satellites
...
 there are seven GPS III satellites planned to be launched by June 2021.

[gongora]

I merged the GPS III-1 thread from the ULA section and the GPS III-2 thread from the SpaceX section, there weren't really that many posts specific to ULA or the GPS III-2 satellite.  We can split out any GPS III-2 specific posts later (I'm not even sure who is going to launch it.)

[zubenelgenubi]

Re: launch swap

It will be interesting to see which ULA make/model will be retired 1st, 2nd, and last in 2018/9:
Delta II (ICESat-2),
Delta IV-M with 4-meter DCSS (GPS III-2),
or Delta IV-M with 5-meter DCSS (WGS-10).

[gongora]

From SpaceflightNow launch schedule:

The third GPS 3-series satellite will now launch on a Delta 4.

  GPS III-1 NET September