Lockheed Martin GPS Satellite Has Been In Orbit And Working For Over A Decade

GPS is one of the most important technologies we have today and is used by billions of people all around the world each day. Lockheed Martin is one of the companies that builds a number of the GPS satellites that are in orbit and the company has announced that one of the satellites has reached a milestone.

The seventh GPS Block IIR satellite was launched on January 30, 2001 and was built by Lockheed Martin. The satellite went operation on February 15, 2001 and is one of 31 satellites on-orbit today providing GPS data for military and other uses. The satellite has now been on station and working for over a decade.

Lockheed has also announced that it is building the next generation GPS satellites for the USAF known as GPS III. The new satellite had a successful critical design review in August of 2010 and the manufacturing phase is progressing and has completed more than half of the required 59 Manufacturing Readiness Reviews. The first of eight new satellites is on track for delivery in 2014.