Jane Edwards
Harris has delivered the fifth of 10 navigation payloads to Lockheed Martin for integration with the U.S. Air Force’s GPS III satellite.
Lockheed completed integrating into the GPS III Space Vehicle 05 the Harris-built navigation payload designed to increase the satellite’s jamming resistance and signal power as well as extend the spacecraft’s lifespan, Harris said Tuesday.
The navigation payload has a mission data unit that works to connect transmitters, radiation-hardened computers and atomic clocks.
Harris said the navigation payloads for the first four GPS III satellites have been integrated and that it plans to deliver by the first quarter of 2019 three additional payloads for GPS III SV06, SV07 and SV08 satellites.
The Lockheed-built GPS III SV02 satellite concluded the thermal vacuum testing phase in December 2017 and is set to receive the “available for launch†status by the summer of this year.
The third and fourth GPS III satellites are scheduled to undergo environmental tests this year.
Harris has also developed a digital MDU for the service’s GPS III Follow On program.
