SpaceX’s first US military satellite launched
December 25 , 2018
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- SpaceX launched the U.S. Air Force’s newest ‘GPS III’ satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, USA.
- This GPS 3 satellite replaces an aging GPS 2R spacecraft launched in 1997.
- The solar-powered spacecraft, dubbed “Vespucci,” is the company’s first official “National Security Space” mission.
- It will provide three-times better accuracy than current systems and will be eight-times better at anti-jamming.
- Nicknamed Vespucci, it honours Italian cartographer and explorer Amerigo Vespucci, after whom North and South America were named.
- It was competed through the Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.
- The successful GPS III SV01 mission marked SpaceX’s 21st and final launch of 2018.
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