ULA’s Vulcan Centaur Launches NTS-3, Advancing Military Satellite Navigation

United Launch Alliance (ULA) conducted its most critical Vulcan rocket lift for the u.s military on August 12, lifting an experimental navigation satellite. It launched the rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with the clock at 8:56 p.m. EDT (0056 GMT August 13). The Vulcan Centaur rocket, equipped with four solid rocket boosters, performed the rocket-powered quadcopter supercharger exercise and successfully delivered the satellite into geostationary orbit over 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometres) about 7 hours later.

Vulcan Centaur's Historic Launch for U.S. Military

As per Space, the previously mentioned payload, Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3), was the last military experimental satellite launched 48 years ago. NTS-3 is an advanced GPS PNT satellite and is significantly more sophisticated than its predecessors.

NTS-3: A Game-Changer in Satellite Navigation

It's designed to withstand jamming and spoofing, which is a heavily vulnerable threat to military and commercial satellites. NTS-3 utilises a determined array antenna to issue powerful and targeted signals to ground forces, even in jammed zones. It also has the ability to be reprogrammed while in orbit, granting great flexibility.

Andrew Builta from L3Harris Technologies claimed this is a “game-changing capability” for secure and reliable satellite navigation. We've had the Vulcan Centaur rocket, standing at a notable height of 202 feet (61 meters), undergo successful test flights twice. By January 2024, there was a lunar lander aboard the rocket, which was undergoing the first test flight; however, it malfunctioned due to a reason that did not correlate to the rocket systems.

By October 2024, the rocket performed a second test flight, this time with a test payload that was previously put on during the first test flight. The second test flight did experience some issues with a booster nozzle; however, it did not affect the outcome. Because of the second test flight, Vulcan was certified by the U.S. Space Force to perform national security launches.

Vulcan Centaur is now cleared for in excess of twenty-two U.S. military missions, and is able to launch from Cape Canaveral, Cape Florida, as well as Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Together with SpaceX, ULA is now one of the two companies certified to launch important military and intel satellites.