Modernized GPS Satellite Ready for Launch

The second modernised Global Positioning System (GPS) Block IIR satellite is set for launch today aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (FL, USA).

Known as GPS IIR-M, the modernised spacecraft are technologically advanced GPS satellites ever developed and are designed to provide significantly improved navigation performance for U.S. military and civilian users worldwide.

Lockheed Martin Navigation Systems is under contract to modernise eight IIR satellites for its customer, the Global Positioning Systems Wing, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, CA, USA. Designated GPS IIR-15(M), this satellite will join the first modernised IIR spacecraft declared operational last year and 12 other operational Block IIR satellites currently on-orbit within the overall 29-spacecraft constellation.

The GPS IIR-M series offers a variety of enhanced features for GPS users, such as a modernised antenna panel that provides increased signal power to receivers on the ground, two new military signals for improved accuracy, enhanced encryption and anti-jamming capabilities for the military, and a second civil signal that will provide users with an open access signal on a different frequency.