United Launch Alliance and SpaceX to bid for GPS launch
Date: Thursday, August 04 @ 09:32:22 UTC
Topic:
With the release of a formal solicitation by the U.S. Air Force, the competition, between United Launch Alliance and SpaceX, to win the contract to launch the third GPS III satellite can begin.
SpaceX already hold the contract to launch the second of the GPS III satellites but United Launch Alliance did not bid as it's Atlas 5 launcher was not expected to be ready in time.
So this is being seen as the first true competition between the two space companies. United Launch Alliance has until now been the launch partner for nearly every U.S. national security satellite including all 12 of the current GPS II satellites so losing this bid will be seen as a huge blow.
The third GPS 3 launch is scheduled to take place in 2019, bids are due by Sep 19.
Source: af.mil/news
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