A Delta II, carrying a new Global Positioning System satellite, launched from Cape Canaveral, March 31.

The GPS IIR-9 was launched aboard a Delta II launch vehicle from Space Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl. The rocket lifted off at 5:09 p.m. EST and the 68-minute mission ended with the successful delivery of the spacecraft to the targeted orbit.

“Today’s launch was the culmination of a dedicated effort for mission success by our government and industry team,” said Jay Witzling, vice president, Delta Programs. “We recognize the importance of this mission to our customer and the nation.”

GPS provides military and civilian users with three-dimensional position location data in longitude, latitude and elevation as well as precise time and velocity. The GPS system is operated by the US Air Force Space Command.

In the first six days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, more than 80 percent of the munitions that hit several thousand targets were precision-guided. A GPS satellite emits a continuous navigation signal and orbits Earth every 12 hours. The system is so accurate that time can be figured to within 25 billionths of a second, velocity within a fraction of a mile per hour and location to within 16 meters, or about 52 feet. The next scheduled Delta launch is the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, or SIRTF, mission for NASA in mid-April from Cape Canaveral aboard the first launch of the Delta II Heavy configuration.

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.nasa.gov, www.af.mil