The statements raised the possibility that the Space Force may transfer the GPS to another launch vehicle, which is slated to fly on the next Vulcan rocket. That’s exactly what happened. The Space Systems Command confirmed this on Friday GPS III SV10 will now be launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at the end of April. Read it our previous story On why the Space Force is so eager to launch GPS satellites.
Each GPS III satellite weighs more than four tons at launch. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets and ULA’s Vulcan are the only launch vehicles certified by the Space Force to perform these types of missions. With an inventory of reusable boosters that fly several times a week, SpaceX can launch new missions in relatively short order.
“With this change, we are responding to the call for rapid delivery of advanced GPS capabilities as the Vulcan anomaly investigation continues,” said Col. Ryan Hiserote, director of the National Security Space Launch program. “Once again, we demonstrate the flexibility of our team and are fully committed to using all options available to ensure a responsive and reliable launch for the country.”
The first Vulcan rocket was launched from a launch pad in Florida in January 2024.
Credit: United Launch Alliance
The first Vulcan rocket was launched from a launch pad in Florida in January 2024.
Credit: United Launch Alliance
Fall from grace
It’s not a good look for United Launch Alliance, once the US military’s sole launch provider. SpaceX launched US national security missions in 2018 after winning the right to compete for military launch contracts with the Falcon 9 rocket. The company entered the military launch market in 2014 after filing a lawsuit against the Air Force challenging the Pentagon’s decision to award a multibillion-dollar sole-source contract to ULA.
The military has opened up a number of launch contracts to competition, and in 2020 it chose ULA for 60 percent of its missions through the end of 2023, and SpaceX for 40 percent. Last year, the Space Systems Command announced the winners the next competition covering starts until the end of the decade. This time, SpaceX won most of the contracts, with ULA coming in second. The Space Force has added Blue Origin as a third launch provider.
The Pentagon has maintained a policy of guaranteed access to space since the 1990s, when the military lost several expensive, high-priority payloads to launch failures. ULA was the sole supplier for these launches for more than a decade, with Atlas V and Delta IV rockets providing the capability to deliver most, but not all, of the national security payloads into orbit. The Delta IV is now out of service and the Atlas V is about to be retired.
Today, SpaceX is the closest to providing reliable access to space on its own, despite ULA’s more than $8 billion in military launch contracts.
