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MUOS-4 Satellite Up and Running

The control team is communicating with the satellite hours after launch.

MUOS-4 will enable near-global coverage for a new secure military communications network offering enhanced capabilities for mobile forces.

The U.S. Navy’s fourth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS-4) satellite is talking from space to the satellite control team at the Naval Spacecraft Operations Control facility after its Florida launch this morning. MUOS-4 will enable near-global coverage for a new secure military communications network offering enhanced capabilities for mobile forces.

The MUOS-4 satellite launched at 6:18 a.m. EDT this morning aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, according to a Lockheed Martin statement. A Lockheed Martin-led initialization team, stationed at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, California, is operating the satellite from its transfer orbit to its test slot.

MUOS-4 is the latest addition to a network of orbiting satellites and relay ground stations designed to revolutionize secure communications for mobile military forces. Users with operational MUOS terminals can seamlessly connect beyond line-of-sight around the globe and into the Global Information Grid. The system’s new smartphone-like capabilities include simultaneous, crystal-clear voice, video and mission data over a high-speed Internet protocol-based system.

The addition of MUOS-4 completes the initial constellation and provides the MUOS network with near-global coverage, extending the reach of communications farther toward the North and South Poles than ever before.