The GPS satellite launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 7:24 a.m. Deployment of the GPS III Space Vehicle 06 confirmed! pic.twitter.com/ACoHueuGqH — SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 18, 2023The mission carried the sixth spacecraft in a new generation of GPS satellites, called GPS III, to an orbit about 12,550 miles (20,200 km) above the Earth’s surface, where more than 30 GPS satellites are currently operating. The next-generation GPS III satellites, built by Lockheed Martin, will modernize that system, with plans to build up to 32 of the satellites, including the six that have launched since 2019. The need to return the focus on GPS as a ‘warfighting system’ has never been clearer.”The previous generation of GPS satellites began entering service in the late 1990s.

Source: CNN January 19, 2023 18:48 UTC