WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 25, 2025--
TrustPoint, a pioneer in next-generation space-based positioning and navigation solutions, is proud to announce the successful launch and first contact of its third free-flying satellite, Time Flies, aboard the latest rideshare launch out of Vandenberg Space Force Base on Monday. This milestone strengthens TrustPoint’s leadership in delivering innovative Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services from Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
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Time Flies, TrustPoint’s third satellite launch in two years, integrates substantial technological advancements, including increased power and autonomy. These innovations enhance the company's compact C-band payload, supporting demonstrations and further advancing field testing of TrustPoint-enabled receivers currently in development by the company's growing portfolio of product partners.
"With the successful launch and first contact of Time Flies, TrustPoint continues to prove that a commercial GPS alternative from LEO is not only possible, it’s here," said Patrick Shannon, Founder and CEO of TrustPoint. "As global demand for alternative and complementary PNT systems accelerates, TrustPoint is uniquely positioned to unlock significant market potential. By addressing pressing customer needs from Low Earth Orbit, we’re paving the way for substantial value creation for our commercial partners and investors."
Building on the successes of earlier missions ( It’s About Time and Time We’ll Tell ), Time Flies underscores TrustPoint’s focus on performance and autonomy to meet commercial and national security requirements. The mission is supported by an all-U.S. team, showcasing the collaboration and expertise driving TrustPoint’s initiatives.
"TrustPoint was founded to enable new applications and address new threats," said Chris DeMay, Founder and COO of TrustPoint. “From program kickoff to first telemetry, the Time Flies mission has been executed flawlessly, validating our technical foundation and reinforcing our ability to respond to global needs for GPS resilience and national security.”
About TrustPoint, Inc.
TrustPoint is developing a revolutionary commercial GPS service, leveraging their C-band LEO satellite constellation. The TrustPoint system has been developed from the ground up to achieve the high performance, security, and availability required for autonomous navigation, critical infrastructure, and national security. Learn more at www.trustpointgps.com.
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Mission Patch for TrustPoint's Third Satellite - Time Flies
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state appeals court is being asked to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa, one of numerous cases that have drawn attention to the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory.
In arguments Thursday, attorneys for Tupe Smith plan to ask the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage to reverse a lower court's decision that let stand the indictment brought against her. Her supporters say she made an innocent mistake that does not merit charges, but the state contends Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship.
Prosecutors also have brought charges against 10 other people from American Samoa in the small Alaska community of Whittier, including Smith’s husband and her mother-in-law. American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.
American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.
About 25 people gathered on a snowy street outside the courthouse before Thursday's hearing to support Smith. One woman, Fran Seager of Palmer, held a sign that said, “Support our Samoans. They are US nationals.”
Smith's husband, Michael Pese, thanked the American Samoa community in the Anchorage area. “If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t be strong enough to face this head on,” he said.
State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat who attended the rally, said the Alaska Department of Law has limited resources.
“We should be going after people who are genuine criminals, who are violent criminals, or at least have the intent to deceive,” he said. “I do not think it is a good use of our limited state resources to go after these hardworking, taxpaying Alaskans who are not criminals.”
Smith was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. She said she relied on erroneous information from local election officials when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms.
In a court filing in 2024, one of her previous attorneys said that when Smith answered questions from the Alaska state trooper who arrested her, she said she was aware that she could not vote in presidential elections but was “unaware of any other restrictions on her ability to vote.”
Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork. But when there was no such option on voter registration forms, she was told by city representatives that it was appropriate to mark U.S. citizen, according to the filing.
Smith “exercised what she believed was her right to vote in a local election. She did so without any intent to mislead or deceive anyone,” her current attorneys said in a filing in September. “Her belief that U.S. nationals may vote in local elections, which was supported by advice from City of Whittier election officials, was simply mistaken.”
The state has said Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”
The counts Smith was indicted on “did not have anything to do with her belief in her ability to vote in certain elections; rather they concerned the straightforward question of whether or not Smith intentionally and falsely swore she was a United States citizen,” Kayla Doyle, an assistant attorney general, said in court filings last year.
One of Smith's attorneys, Neil Weare, co-founder of the Washington-based Right to Democracy Project, said by email last week that if the appeals court lets stand the indictment, Alaska will be “the only state to our knowledge with such a low bar for felony voter fraud.”
Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.
Michael Pese and his wife, Tupe Smith, stand outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Michael Pese, left, his wife, Tupe Smith, and their son Maximus pose for a photo outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
FILE - Tupe Smith poses for a photo outside the school in Whittier, Alaska, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
