Atlas V launch marks 'end of an era' for GPS

CAPE CANAVERAL — A blitz of launches updating the nation’s Global Positioning System constellation concluded Friday with an Atlas V rocket’s successful first flight of the year.

A few hours after an on-time 8:38 a.m. liftoff into an azure sky, the 19-story United Launch Alliance rocket deployed the last of a dozen satellites in the series labeled GPS IIF, or 2F.

The mission marked the “end of an era,” Col. Steve Whitney, director of the Air Force’s Global Positioning Systems Directorate, said before the launch.

And it wrapped up what Whitney called one of the most aggressive launch campaigns in the last 20 years, with eight GPS satellites delivered to orbit over the past two years, a rate of one every few months.

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Now, the program will pause.

The first satellite in the next generation, called GPS III, is undergoing tests and won’t launch before May 2017, more than two years behind schedule, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

More than half the GPS satellites are flying longer than they were designed to, but the Air Force says the system is in good health after the recent infusion of satellites.

“The IIF series has done wonders for the constellation,” he said. “The improvements that we’ve seen are well positioning us for where we’re going in the future with GPS III and beyond.”

Those improvements include better accuracy. Locations determined by GPS on average now are off by less than 50 centimeters, or 20 inches, roughly twice as good as before the new satellites began launching in 2010, according to the Air Force.

Civilians around the world who use the constellation for driving directions or smart phone maps might not notice much difference.

But for military service members, that margin could determine if a weapon hits its target properly, or a soldier's ability to get out of harm's way.

“Fifty centimeters is a lot,” said Whitney.

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The latest mission will bring to 31 the number of operational spacecraft in the Department of Defense’s largest and most recognized constellation, which orbits in six planes more than 12,000 miles overhead. Another nine satellites are flying in backup status.

To make room for the new satellite, the Air Force recently retired its most senior bird after 25 years of service — more than three times longer than it was designed to last.

The first of the 12 Boeing-built GPS IIF satellites launched from Cape Canaveral nearly six years ago. Each is worth about $250 million, including production and development costs, and designed to work for at least 12 years.

Friday’s launch was the first of as many as 30 projected from Cape Canaveral in 2016. SpaceX could follow later this month with its first Cape launch of the year, a commercial satellite mission.

ULA’s next Cape launch is targeted for March 10, with another Atlas V lifting cargo to the International Space Station.

But the company's focus now shifts to the West Coast, where a Delta IV rocket is preparing to launch an intelligence mission on Wednesday.

It’s the first of three times this year when ULA plans to launch a pair of missions within a week of each other, if schedules hold.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com.And follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.