The Navy’s fifth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite has reached operational orbit and has successfully deployed its arrays and antennas.

On October 22, the MUOS team raised the MUOS-5 satellite to an operationally-suitable orbit. The team completed a series of deployments of the satellite’s solar arrays and antennas, with the last occurring successfully October 30.

MUOS-5 launched June 24 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and experienced a failure of its orbit raising propulsion system that halted the satellite’s transfer orbit maneuver to its geosynchronous test orbit. The MUOS team ensured the satellite remained stable, safe, and under positive control while it investigated the issue and examined options.

«We are very proud of the commitment our team members demonstrated», said Captain Joe Kan, program manager for the Navy Communications Satellite Program Office. «Working together with industry, we were able to execute an alternative propulsion method to maneuver MUOS-5 to reach a position that is operationally suitable».

MUOS-5 is scheduled to begin on-orbit November 3. It will complete the five-satellite MUOS constellation once on-orbit testing is complete.

«The system will undergo on-orbit testing before final acceptance of the system by the Navy and offering it up for operational use», said Commander Jason Pratt, MUOS principal assistant program manager. «The satellite and its payloads will go through rigorous tests with our ground systems and terminals to make sure everything operates properly».

The MUOS system is designed to provide improved communications capabilities to users around the world, regardless of where they are in relation to a satellite. The MUOS constellation and associated ground network will provide 3G-like cellphone communications for the next decade and beyond.

The Navy’s Program Executive Office for Space Systems, located at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego, is responsible for the MUOS program.

The U.S. Navy and Lockheed Martin delivered the fifth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on March 3, prior to its expected May launch. The spacecraft will be the third MUOS satellite launched in a 16-month span, a cadence that demonstrates the production line concept put into place for the delivery of this five-satellite build.

MUOS-5 is the latest addition to a network of orbiting satellites and relay ground stations that is revolutionizing secure communications for mobile military forces. Users with operational MUOS terminals will be able to seamlessly connect beyond line-of-sight around the world and into the Global Information Grid. MUOS’ new capabilities include simultaneous, crystal-clear voice, video and mission data, over a secure high-speed Internet Protocol-based system, similar to today’s smart phones.

MUOS-5 will complete the U.S. Navy’s baseline constellation and serve as an on-orbit spare for the system, ensuring the network is always available to support U.S. and allied mobile forces.

«As MUOS-5’s launch approaches, MUOS-4 is preparing to begin operations on-station, enabling MUOS’ near-global coverage», said Mark Woempner, program director of Lockheed Martin’s Narrowband Communications mission area. «We are proud that we will soon be providing our mobile forces access to the system’s enhanced communications capabilities from nearly anywhere, including further into polar regions than ever before».

Lockheed Martin manufactured MUOS-5 at its Sunnyvale, California facility. For its trip to Florida the satellite was loaded aboard a C-5 Galaxy aircraft at nearby Moffett Federal Air Field by the 60th Air Mobility Wing of Travis Air Force Base (AFB). Astrotech Space Operations, a Lockheed Martin wholly-owned subsidiary in Florida, will complete MUOS-5’s pre-launch processing.

The satellite joins MUOS-1, MUOS-2, MUOS-3, and MUOS-4 already on orbit. All four required MUOS ground stations are complete. More than 55,000 currently fielded radio terminals can be upgraded to be MUOS-compatible, with many of them requiring just a software upgrade.

Once fully operational, the MUOS network will provide 16 times the capacity of the legacy ultra-high frequency communications satellite system, which it will continue to support, and eventually replace.