Boeing GPS IIF Satellite completes environmental tests

ST. LOUIS, 5 July 2008. Engineers at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems completed environmental tests of the first of 12 Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF satellites. The tests confirm the mechanical integrity of the spacecraft.

The program is on track to deliver the first satellite to the U.S. Air Force this year, company officials say.

The GPS IIF team completed a series of acoustic tests that replicate the noise levels expected during the spacecraft's launch into orbit. Officials of the Air Force, the Aerospace Corp., and experts at Boeing's satellite factory in El Segundo, Calif., supervised the tests.

"Completion of these tests represents a key milestone in the test schedule for the first space vehicle that will provide modernized global positioning capability for military and civilian users," says Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager, Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems.

Boeing officials also recently completed mechanical solar array deployment test for the GPS IIF program and delivered upgraded software for the control segment that will support the first and subsequent GPS IIF launches.