SpaceX launched an advanced GPS satellite into orbit on Monday night (December 16), a mission that the U.S. Space Force said demonstrated a new level of responsiveness and readiness.
one Falcon 9 Rocket takes off from Florida Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Start a task at 7:52 PM EST on Monday (December 17th 0052) Space Exploration Technologies Corporation Called RRT-1.
The company didn’t provide any other information about the payload; its mission description didn’t even say what “RRT” stands for, if it is indeed an acronym. SpaceX also did not show any view of the Falcon 9 upper stage during the launch webcast, and ended the broadcast about 8.5 minutes after liftoff at the request of its customers.
Hours after launch, the mystery was revealed U.S. Space Forcewhich revealed that the mission was a “rapid response trailblazer” that sent advanced GPS satellite Get into orbit.
“This mission successfully demonstrated the complex integration efforts among multiple Space Force organizations to remove existing GPS III satellites from storage, accelerate integration and launch vehicles,” Space Force officials said in an email update Monday evening. preparations and launch quickly.
Related: SpaceX launches advanced GPS satellite for U.S. Space Force and successfully lands
“This launch is a remarkable achievement that highlights the Space Force’s ability to execute high-level missions on major space systems in a significantly reduced timeframe,” said Col. Jim Horn, senior materiel director for launch execution in the Assured Access Space Division at Space Systems Command. Priority launch.
“In this case, the revised plan for the RRT was started within five months of launch, rather than our normal 24 months after launch,” Horn said. “Not only does it demonstrate the team’s ability to respond to urgent constellation needs, but it demonstrates our flexibility and responsiveness to provide capabilities as quickly as the spacecraft is ready. In this case, it’s not just the warfighter, but the nation.” and country.
SpaceX holds a contract to launch three GPS-3 satellites for the U.S. military and has already launched one of them. January 2023.
The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth about 8.5 minutes after launch on Monday and landed as planned on the “A Shortfall of Gravitas” drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. According to SpaceX’s mission description, this is the fourth liftoff and landing for this particular booster.
Meanwhile, the rocket’s upper stage continues to deliver the RRT-1 payload into orbit, where it will be deployed approximately 90 minutes after launch.
Editor’s note: This article was updated with news of the launch of Scrubs on December 13 at 8:55 PM (ET), and then again at 3:15 AM (ET) on December 16 with news of the December 16 target date. Updated again on December 16 at 8:10pm ET with news of the successful launch and rocket landing, and then again at 1pm ET on December 17 with information on the RRT mission and payload.