SHARE: Pictured is a SpaceX photo of a Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. on Jan. 27th for the GPS III-9 mission. On Monday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 is to carry the last GPS III satellite by Lockheed Martin [LMT] into orbit with an optical cross link payload designed to increase the durability of the constellation of 32 active GPS satellites. The GPS III-8 mission's optical cross link is a "demonstration payload that we're doing to test out the optical cross link capability with ground," Fang Qian, Lockheed Martin's vice president of GPS, said on Friday in a virtual forum with reporters,… Subscriber-only content. Please log in below. Email or Username