At 14:53 on April 21, Beijing time, the U.S. Space Force used a SpaceX seven-handed Falcon 9 rocket B1095.7 to launch the eighth and last GPS-III positioning and navigation satellite.Of course, this is not the last GPS satellite. The next step is that the U.S. Space Force will launch an upgraded version of GPS-IIIF to replace the failed old satellites and improve the anti-interference ability of the entire constellation.
This GPS III-8 mission is code-named "Space Vehicle 10", referred to as SV10, also known as Hedy Lamar.
The Austrian-American actress and inventor's research on frequency hopping technology laid the foundation for today's GPS satellites and even Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless communication technologies.
In addition to enhanced networking, GPS III-8 will alsoFocus will be on demonstrating optical cross-links, a new laser communications system that will be integrated into subsequent GPS IIIF satellites.
It also comes with aNew digital atomic clock, conduct technical demonstrations to improve accuracy.
It is worth mentioning that this mission was originally supposed to be launched by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket, but after repeated delays, the U.S. Space Force chose SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
This is also the fourth time that the launch of GPS satellites has been replaced by Falcon 9. The dominance of the U.S. commercial aerospace industry has become increasingly obvious.
After the rocket was launched, the first-stage booster was successfully recovered at sea as usual.
