We ’re About to Launch 4 Different Rockets Into Space On the Same Day

On a historic day of four planned space launches, Lockheed Martin Corp. is betting that the first of its long-delayed, next-generation Global Positioning System satellites can do its job even though congressional investigators say it has suspect capacitors that could undermine its mission. A GPS-III satellite scheduled to be sent into orbit by Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Tuesday morning in Florida is the first of a new wave of spacecraft which promise greater accuracy and stronger signals to help guide everything from ride-sharing services to missiles. But the satellite, launching four years late, contains about 600 suspect capacitors out of nearly 28,000 parts used on its navigation payload. The Air Force decided in 2016 not to replace them after the capacitors were discovered on the second and third satellites being built and pulled them out. All sides agreed that the subcontractor at the time, Exelis Inc. and now Harris Corp. had failed to do required testing on the capacitors five years earlier, in 2011, with Lockheed saying it was responsible for maintaining oversight of its subcontractors. Despite the setback, the Air Force, Lockheed and Harris all expressed confidence that the satellite will operate as expected. The Air Force decided that the risk in taking it apart and reassembling it “to remove and replace the capacitors was greater than the risk of launching the satellite ‘as is,’” said Cristina Chaplain, director of space acquisition oversi...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Bloomberg onetime space Source Type: news