GPS III SV-09 and SV-10 Launches
Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2026 6:08 pm
Here is an update on the last two launches in the GPS III satellite series.
GPS III SV-09
SpaceX launched GPS III SV-09 using their Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida at 11:53 p.m. EST on January 27, 2026. This was the fifth flight of the Falcon 9 booster B1096 rocket that was used. The booster was successfully recovered by the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
The GPS III SV-09 satellite was successfully deployed about 90-minutes after liftoff into its medium-Earth orbit. The satellite was built by Lockheed Martin. The GPS III SV-09 is also known as SVN 82 and is named after Colonel Ellison Onizuka, an NASA Astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle CHALLENGER disaster in 1986, 40-years ago. This Block III satellite is orbiting in Plane F at Slot 5. It uses PRN 20, and operates using a Rubidium Clock.
This was another GPS "rapid deployment" mission, which followed a rapid timeline as used for GPS III SV-07 in May 2025. For this launch the campaign was executed in only two months. This mission was originally scheduled to be launched by ULA with their Vulcan rocket, but was changed to SpaceX in order to speed up the deployment of the GPS III series spacecraft.
GPS III SV-10
GPS III SV-10, the final satellite in the Block III series, was launched on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Again, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried the satellite into orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Launch time was at 2:52 a.m. EDT. The Falcon 9 booster was B1095 on its seventh flight. Previously it had carried six Starlink missions.
GPS III SV-10 is the last of the Block III satellites, and is also identified as SVN-83 and named after Hedy Lamarr. Hedy Lamarr was a film actress and singer, but no dummy. In the 1940’s she and music composer George Antheil invented and patented a method of secure data transmission, which at the time was mostly ignored, but later became the basis for spread-spectrum radio transmission. While SV-10 is now in orbit, it has not yet jointed the active GPS constellation as of this writing.
The Falcon 9 booster stage was successfully recovered on drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. This was that ship's last planned mission with the Falcon 9 rockets, as it will be changed to work with the Starship rockets in the future.
Curiously, satellite SV-10 had quite an unusual path to the launch pad. It twice bounced between being carried by a United Launch Alliance Vulcan or by a SpaceX Falcon 9, a result of concerns about the readiness of the Vulcan rocket and concern generated during the United States Space Force USSF-87 mission launch on a Vulcan.
The original plan was to launch SV-10 using a Falcon 9 with SpaceX. But in mid-2024, the SV-10 launch was moved to the ULA Vulcan rocket, when the GPS III SV-07 mission was changed from a Vulcan launch to a Falcon 9 mission due to concern that the Vulcan was not ready. But after the USSF-87 anomaly, SV-10 was moved back to a Falcon 9 mission, and a future USSF-70 mission was moved to Vulcan.
New Innovations Aboard
The GPS III SV-09 and SV-10 spacecraft contain several new innovations. Both have a Laser Retroflector Array (LRA), which is a precision laser mirror. This facility allows measurement of the satellite's position in space to an accuracy of less than one centimeter.
SV-10 has a development payload which will be used in a optical cross-link demonstration, that is, for satellite to satellite communication.
Also onboard SV-10 is a new Digital Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standard (DRAFS), which will augment the accuracy of the atomic clock.
And the satellite's Omni Antenna was constructed with 3D-Printing, a first for constructor Lockheed-Martin.
The USSF-87 Mission Anomaly
During the USSF-87 launch, which was just the fourth flight for a ULA Vulcan, one of four solid-rocket boosters burned through its nozzle during launch, the second occurrence of this anomaly for the Vulcan. The ULA rocket uses a pair of BE-4 engines made by its competitor, Blue Origin, for its main engine, and up to six Northrup Grumman GEM 6XL solid rocket boosters to provide additional thrust.
The loss of the engine nozzle caused asymmetrical thrust, but the rest of the engines compensated, and the satellite USSF-87 payload was delivered to its planned orbit. However the ULA Vulcan has not yet been trusted to carry a GPS satellite, as all planned launches so far ended up with SpaceX and on a Falcon 9 rocket.
GPS III SV-09
SpaceX launched GPS III SV-09 using their Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida at 11:53 p.m. EST on January 27, 2026. This was the fifth flight of the Falcon 9 booster B1096 rocket that was used. The booster was successfully recovered by the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
The GPS III SV-09 satellite was successfully deployed about 90-minutes after liftoff into its medium-Earth orbit. The satellite was built by Lockheed Martin. The GPS III SV-09 is also known as SVN 82 and is named after Colonel Ellison Onizuka, an NASA Astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle CHALLENGER disaster in 1986, 40-years ago. This Block III satellite is orbiting in Plane F at Slot 5. It uses PRN 20, and operates using a Rubidium Clock.
This was another GPS "rapid deployment" mission, which followed a rapid timeline as used for GPS III SV-07 in May 2025. For this launch the campaign was executed in only two months. This mission was originally scheduled to be launched by ULA with their Vulcan rocket, but was changed to SpaceX in order to speed up the deployment of the GPS III series spacecraft.
GPS III SV-10
GPS III SV-10, the final satellite in the Block III series, was launched on Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Again, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried the satellite into orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Launch time was at 2:52 a.m. EDT. The Falcon 9 booster was B1095 on its seventh flight. Previously it had carried six Starlink missions.
GPS III SV-10 is the last of the Block III satellites, and is also identified as SVN-83 and named after Hedy Lamarr. Hedy Lamarr was a film actress and singer, but no dummy. In the 1940’s she and music composer George Antheil invented and patented a method of secure data transmission, which at the time was mostly ignored, but later became the basis for spread-spectrum radio transmission. While SV-10 is now in orbit, it has not yet jointed the active GPS constellation as of this writing.
The Falcon 9 booster stage was successfully recovered on drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. This was that ship's last planned mission with the Falcon 9 rockets, as it will be changed to work with the Starship rockets in the future.
Curiously, satellite SV-10 had quite an unusual path to the launch pad. It twice bounced between being carried by a United Launch Alliance Vulcan or by a SpaceX Falcon 9, a result of concerns about the readiness of the Vulcan rocket and concern generated during the United States Space Force USSF-87 mission launch on a Vulcan.
The original plan was to launch SV-10 using a Falcon 9 with SpaceX. But in mid-2024, the SV-10 launch was moved to the ULA Vulcan rocket, when the GPS III SV-07 mission was changed from a Vulcan launch to a Falcon 9 mission due to concern that the Vulcan was not ready. But after the USSF-87 anomaly, SV-10 was moved back to a Falcon 9 mission, and a future USSF-70 mission was moved to Vulcan.
New Innovations Aboard
The GPS III SV-09 and SV-10 spacecraft contain several new innovations. Both have a Laser Retroflector Array (LRA), which is a precision laser mirror. This facility allows measurement of the satellite's position in space to an accuracy of less than one centimeter.
SV-10 has a development payload which will be used in a optical cross-link demonstration, that is, for satellite to satellite communication.
Also onboard SV-10 is a new Digital Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standard (DRAFS), which will augment the accuracy of the atomic clock.
And the satellite's Omni Antenna was constructed with 3D-Printing, a first for constructor Lockheed-Martin.
The USSF-87 Mission Anomaly
During the USSF-87 launch, which was just the fourth flight for a ULA Vulcan, one of four solid-rocket boosters burned through its nozzle during launch, the second occurrence of this anomaly for the Vulcan. The ULA rocket uses a pair of BE-4 engines made by its competitor, Blue Origin, for its main engine, and up to six Northrup Grumman GEM 6XL solid rocket boosters to provide additional thrust.
The loss of the engine nozzle caused asymmetrical thrust, but the rest of the engines compensated, and the satellite USSF-87 payload was delivered to its planned orbit. However the ULA Vulcan has not yet been trusted to carry a GPS satellite, as all planned launches so far ended up with SpaceX and on a Falcon 9 rocket.