{"id":49954,"date":"2024-12-17T20:41:30","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T12:41:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-launches-gps-iii-nrol-149-and-o3b-mpower-satellites-in-back-to-back-launches\/"},"modified":"2024-12-17T20:41:30","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T12:41:30","slug":"spacex-launches-gps-iii-nrol-149-and-o3b-mpower-satellites-in-back-to-back-launches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-launches-gps-iii-nrol-149-and-o3b-mpower-satellites-in-back-to-back-launches\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX Launches GPS III, NROL-149, and O3b mPOWER Satellites in Back-to-Back Launches"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

SpaceX<\/b> launched two Falcon 9 national security missions back-to-back from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California between Monday night and Tuesday morning, followed by an O3b mPOWER launch for SES<\/strong> on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

On Monday evening at 7:52 p.m. ET, SpaceX launched the seventh GPS III satellite in a new accelerated timeline mission called RRT-1 \u2014 Rapid Response Trailblazer. <\/p>\n

Space Systems Command called this a \u201cfirst of its kind\u201d National Security Space Launch for its rapid response schedule as it was executed in less than five months. The satellite was originally planned to be launched by ULA\u2019s Vulcan Centaur rocket, which has been delayed in receiving NSSL certification. <\/p>\n

Col. Jim Horne, senior materiel leader of Launch Execution for SSC\u2019s Assured Access to Space (AATS) said in a release that revised planning for this RRT began five months before launch, instead of the normal timeline of about 24 months to launch. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis launch was a remarkable achievement that highlights the Space Force\u2019s ability to execute high priority launches of major space systems on a significantly reduced timescale. As an added benefit, it also demonstrates flexibility to adjust our manifest to minimize the impact of Vulcan delays,\u201d Horne said. <\/p>\n

Spacecraft prime contractor Lockheed Martin confirmed signal acquisition on the GPS III vehicle after launch. <\/p>\n

Then on Tuesday morning at 8:19 a.m. ET, SpaceX launched the classified NROL-149 mission. The NRO confirmed the mission and said it is the sixth launch for the NRO\u2019s proliferated architecture. The NRO has said this proliferated constellation will be \u201cthe U.S. government\u2019s largest satellite constellation in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

O3b mPOWER Launch for SES<\/strong><\/h4>\n

On Tuesday evening, SpaceX launched the seventh and eighth satellites in SES\u2019s O3b mPOWER constellation in another Falcon 9 mission from Florida. The mission lifted off at 5:26 p.m. ET on Tuesday, and the satellites deployed about two hours into the mission.<\/p>\n

Manufacturer Boeing confirmed post-launch that the satellites are sending and receiving signals.<\/p>\n

The satellites will add to SES\u2019s next-generation Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) constellation which entered service in April of this year. Some of the constellation\u2019s customers include Microsoft, Princess Cruises, Marlink, and governments including the U.S. and Luxembourg.<\/p>\n

\u201cO3b mPOWER is our most powerful, technically advanced, flexible satellite constellation in space,\u201d SES CEO Adel al Saleh commented. \u201cAs we increase the number of satellites in our constellation, we also exponentially increase the capacity and efficiency of our network. Ever since the start of service of O3b mPOWER earlier this year, we have seen how it has become an integral part of the connectivity experience of our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

These two satellites have redesigned payload power modules compared to the first six satellites, four of which experienced issues with their power modules. SES and Boeing reached a deal last year after the issues to upgrade satellites seven through 11 and add an additional two more satellites to the constellation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teams have worked diligently to design and manufacture these advanced satellites, and we are thrilled to see them successfully launched and communicating,\u201d said Michelle Parker, vice president of Boeing Space Mission Systems. \u201cFrom concept to reality, designing and delivering this first-of-its-kind technology to SES has been remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 national security missions back-to-back from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California between Monday night and Tuesday morning, followed by an O3b mPOWER launch for SES on Tuesday.  On Monday evening at 7:52 p.m. ET, SpaceX launched the seventh GPS III satellite in a new accelerated timeline […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}