AEROSPACE INDUSTRY
UPDATE
April 2012
McIlvaine Company
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Next-Generation GPS Satellites Designed in Cleanroom
A new factory built to crank out the next generation of advanced Global Positioning System satellites will draw upon some Hollywood magic: 3D glasses and virtual reality.
Aerospace firm Lockheed Martin opened its new GPS satellite processing facility last month. Sporting 50,000 square feet (4,645 square meters) of spacecraft assembly and test area, the area includes a high bay cleanroom and dedicated test chambers.
The U.S. Air Force has laid out plans to order as many as 32 GPS 3 series satellites. The Air Force Space Command's 2nd Space Operations Squadron, based at neighboring Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, manages and operates the GPS satellite constellation for both civil and military users.
The new Lockheed Martin facility is expected to deliver four spacecraft per year and has capacity for the construction of as many as seven space vehicles at one time, said Mark Valerio, Lockheed Martin's vice president and general manager for surveillance and navigation systems.
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