Reflection of the laser retroreflector array through the testing apparatus. Photo: NASA/Zach Denny

The U.S. Space Force delivered two laser retroflector arrays built by NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGIA) to Lockheed Martin for upcoming GPS satellites. 

Space Force announced last week that the laser retroflector arrays (LRAs) were delivered in May under a directed program to rapidly integrate hosted payloads on GPS satellites ahead of launch call up. Lockheed Martin will now integrate the flight hardware onto two GPS III vehicles, SV9 and SV10, in preparation for a 2025 launch. 

The LRAs will improve geolocation of NASA’s Earth observations, allowing NASA to make precise range measurements to the sub-centimeter level. The NASA Space Geodesy Program and NGA will use collected Satellite Laser Ranging data from the GPS III LRAs to maintain a globally available, high quality terrestrial reference frame. NASA partnered with the Naval Research Laboratory’s Naval Center for Space Technology to build the retroreflectors. 

The Space Force expects LRAs will be standard on future GPS vehicles. 

“This is a great example of partnership between the Space Force, NGA and NASA. We were able to add new capabilities to the GPS constellation years ahead of schedule while ensuring the billions of people who rely on our signals daily would be unaffected,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Andrew Menschner, Position, Navigation and Timing Delta (Provisional) commander at Space Operations Command.