The fifth GPS IIF satellite arrived at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., for its anticipated launch into orbit in October, announced Boeing on Tuesday. A C-17 carried GPS IIF-5 from Boeing’s satellite manufacturing facility in El Segundo, Calif., to the cape last month, states the company’s Sept. 17 release. A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket is slated to carry the navigation satellite into space. GPS-IIF-4 began operations on orbit earlier this year.
Facing competition from fast-growing startups, Lockheed Martin is speeding up production of an “affordable, scalable” hypersonic glide body, dubbed the Next Generation Glide Body, the firm said in a June 24 release.