The Elon Musk-owned experimental rocket company SpaceX has confirmed lift-off is scheduled to take place at 9:43pm ET (2.43am BST on Saturday morning). This latest launch will see a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blast an upgraded global positioning satellite (GPS) into orbit for the newly-created US Space Force.
And as usual, SpaceX is only too happy for enthusiasts to follow all the action live online.
This launch is expected to be 17th so far this year for SpaceX.
This will see a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket take off from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:43pm ET (2.43am BST on Saturday morning).
The rocket is ferrying the GPS III SV04 satellite for the US Space Force.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JESG7x0X0ek
Everyone is invited to watch the launch for free, courtesy of SpaceX’s YouTube channel.
Expect the action to begin approximately 15 minutes prior to liftoff.
Provided everything goes according to plan, this should mark the fourth launch of an upgraded next-gen GPS III satellite.
Two such cutting-edge satellites have already launched on different Falcon 9 rockets.
The first of these took-off in December 2018 and the most recent launched in June this year.
SpaceX has also secured the next few launches after this one as the military works to upgrade the increasingly-antiquated space network.
These Lockheed Martin-built Global Positioning Satellites are widely-recognised as some of the most sophisticated satellites ever designed.
The satellites feature anti-jamming capabilities believed to be eight times more robust than previous versions.
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And in addition, they are equipped with incredibly powerful signals for improved accuracy.
Today’s launch is thought to be the fourth in a series of 10 upgraded GPS III satellites for the military.
These will assist in the provision of positioning, navigation, and timing services for more than four billion people around the world.
The US Space Force last week revealed how the military has granted SpaceX permission to fly national security payloads on reusable rockets.
This follows another decision to allow SpaceX to recover the rocket’s first stage used on national security missions — which was previously banned.
SpaceX will launch the next two GPS missions GPS III-SV05 and GPS III-SV06 on veteran Falcon 9 first stages.
These rockets will also subsequently land back on Earth following the missions and they are scheduled to launch sometime next year.
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