Jay Clemens
Lockheed Martin is ready to begin pre-operational testing of the Mobile User Objective System constellation’s fifth satellite after the spacecraft reached geosynchronous orbit and deployed its solar arrays and antennas last week.
Lockheed said Friday it will conduct on-orbit MOUS-5 tests before the company hands over operations to the U.S. Navy for additional evaluation and commissioning into service.
The satellite is the final MUOS in the network of orbiting satellites and relay ground stations designed to provide beyond line-of-sight communications to military forces.
MUOS’ services include voice, video and mission data over an Internet Protocol-based system, Lockheed noted.
The satellite encountered trouble with its orbit raising propulsion system after it took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on June 24 en route to its geosynchronous orbit.
“In the end, the Navy and Lockheed Martin engineering team were able to isolate the issue and develop a work-around using alternative propulsion,†said Mark Woempner, director of narrowband communications systems at Lockheed.
