USA-206,
also GPS SVN-50, PRN-05 and NAVSTAR 64 and known before launch as GPS IIR-21, GPS IIRM-8 or GPS IIR-21(M), is an American
navigation satellite
A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pr ...
which forms part of the
Navstar
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sys ...
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
. It was the twenty-first and last
Block IIR GPS satellite
GPS satellite blocks are the various production generations of the Global Positioning System (GPS) used for satellite navigation. The first satellite in the system, Navstar 1, was launched on 22 February 1978. The GPS satellite constellatio ...
to be launched, and the eighth to use the modernized IIRM configuration.
GPS IIR-21 was built by
Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
, based on the
AS-4000
The Kh-22 (russian: Х-22; AS-4 'Kitchen') is a large, long-range anti-ship missile developed by MKB Raduga in the Soviet Union. It was designed for use against aircraft carriers and carrier battle groups, with either a conventional or nuclear wa ...
satellite bus
A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held.
Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus-d ...
, with the navigation payload being built by
ITT.
It was launched by a
United Launch Alliance
United Launch Alliance (ULA), legally United Launch Alliance, LLC, is an American spacecraft launch service provider that manufactures and operates a number of rocket vehicles that are capable of launching spacecraft into orbits around Earth, a ...
Delta II
Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family and entered service in 1989. Delta II vehicles included the Delta 6000, and the two later Delta 7000 va ...
rocket, using the 7925-9.5 configuration,
on 17 August 2009 at 10:35 GMT.
It was the last spacecraft to launch from
Space Launch Complex 17A at the
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida.
Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the statio ...
, a launch pad which was first used in August 1957 for test flights of the
PGM-17 Thor
The PGM-17A Thor was the first operational ballistic missile of the United States Air Force (USAF). Named after the Norse god of thunder, it was deployed in the United Kingdom between 1959 and September 1963 as an intermediate-range ballistic m ...
missile.
It is also the final flight of an AS-4000 bus,
the final GPS launch on a Delta II, and the final Delta II launch to be overseen by the US Air Force.
Following separation from its carrier rocket, GPS IIR-21 received its
USA designation, USA-206. It was deployed into a transfer orbit, from which raised itself to a
semi-synchronous medium Earth orbit
A medium Earth orbit (MEO) is an geocentric orbit, Earth-centered orbit with an altitude above a low Earth orbit (LEO) and below a high Earth orbit (HEO) – between above sea level. on 19 August, using an onboard
Star 37FM apogee motor
An apogee kick motor (AKM) is a rocket motor that is regularly employed on artificial satellites to provide the final impulse to change the trajectory from the transfer orbit into its final (most commonly circular) orbit. For a satellite laun ...
. It is a satellite,
and is expected to operate for at least ten years.
Once it had completed on-orbit testing, it began covering Slot 3 of Plane E of the GPS constellation, replacing
USA-126
USA-126, also known as GPS IIA-17, GPS II-26 and GPS SVN-40, is an American navigation satellite which forms part of the Global Positioning System. It was the seventeenth of nineteen Block IIA GPS satellites to be launched.
Background
Global ...
, or GPS IIA-26, which was launched in July 1996.
It was declared operational on 27 August 2009.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:USA-206
Spacecraft launched in 2009
GPS satellites
Spacecraft launched by Delta II rockets
USA satellites