The U.S. Space Force successfully launched the GPS III-9 (SV09) satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on January 27. Built by Lockheed Martin, this satellite significantly upgrades the global constellation with three times the accuracy and eight times the jam resistance of previous models, providing critical resilience for modern military operations.
This mission also served as a tribute to the 40th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, as the satellite was named in honor of Col. Ellison Onizuka, the NASA astronaut and Air Force engineer who perished in 1986. The launch highlighted the "agility and responsiveness" of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, which completed the launch campaign in just two months.
Read the full press release at Space Systems Command