{"id":15420,"date":"2016-06-24T21:22:26","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T13:22:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/navy-satellite-sails-to-orbit-atop-atlas-5-rocket-for-communications-grid\/"},"modified":"2016-06-24T21:22:26","modified_gmt":"2016-06-24T13:22:26","slug":"navy-satellite-sails-to-orbit-atop-atlas-5-rocket-for-communications-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/navy-satellite-sails-to-orbit-atop-atlas-5-rocket-for-communications-grid\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy satellite sails to orbit atop Atlas 5 rocket for communications grid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/172138715\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>CAPE CANAVERAL \u2014 And then there were five.<\/p>\n<p>The constellation-building Atlas 5 rocket from United Launch Alliance successfully deployed the fifth communications spacecraft for the Navy\u2019s Mobile User Objective System today to form a new rugged smartphone network for the U.S. military.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMUOS is a revolutionary system in its infancy,\u201d said Navy Commander Peter Sheehy, principal assistant program manager of MUOS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFive years from now, we\u2019ll be wondering how we ever operated without it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Atlas 5 heaved the massive payload into the proper orbit to complete the launch series, flying straight and true just like the four previous MUOS missions since 2012.<\/p>\n<p>MUOS No. 5 left the pad atop the 206-foot-tall rocket when the launch window opened at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT), powering skyward on two-and-a-half million pounds of thrust from the kerosene-fed main engine and five side-mounted solid motors.<\/p>\n<p>Within five minutes, the launcher had climbed above the atmosphere, shed the solids, nose cone and first stage, leaving the cryogenic Centaur upper stage to perform three burns spread over three hours to loft the 15,000-pound satellite into a high-perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The first stage performed normally, a little \u201chot\u201d even, with no signs of repeating the mixture ratio valve hiccup suffered on the last flight in March.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16361\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16361\" style=\"width: 820px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-16361\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/av_muos5_l9-820x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Official launch photo. Credit: United Launch Alliance\" width=\"820\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/av_muos5_l9-820x1024.jpg 820w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/av_muos5_l9-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/av_muos5_l9-768x959.jpg 768w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/av_muos5_l9.jpg 1441w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16361\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Official launch photo. Credit: United Launch Alliance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The three-burn Centaur profile was designed for the MUOS missions because it enabled each rocket to carry about 1,000 pounds of extra payload.<\/p>\n<p>Deployment of the satellite occurred at 1:23 p.m. EDT (1723 GMT), becoming the 134th successful launch in a row for the Atlas program spanning more than two decades.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are honored to be entrusted with delivering America\u2019s most critical space assets to orbit and appreciate the outstanding team effort in delivering 100 percent mission success \u2014 one launch at a time,\u201d said Laura Maginnis, United Launch Alliance vice president of Custom Services.<\/p>\n<p>The MUOS launches placed a combined 75,000 pounds of cargo into space using the most capable version of the Atlas 5 rocket available.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MUOS 1 \u2014<\/strong> Launched Feb. 24, 2012 (Pacific Ocean region)<br \/>\n<strong>MUOS 2 \u2014<\/strong> Launched July 19, 2013 (Continental U.S.)<br \/>\n<strong>MUOS 3 \u2014<\/strong> Launched Jan. 20, 2015 (Atlantic Ocean region)<br \/>\n<strong>MUOS 4 \u2014<\/strong> Launched Sept. 2, 2015 (Indian Ocean region)<br \/>\n<strong>MUOS 5 \u2014<\/strong> Launched June 24, 2016 (SPARE-Indian Ocean)<\/p>\n<p>Acting as cellphone towers from their geosynchronous parking spots over the equator 22,300 miles high, the satellites together generate global coverage and reach just miles shy of the poles. MUOS No. 5, the in-space spare of the system, will be placed over the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n<p>MUOS serves a dual-provider of both voice traffic currently routed by the Navy\u2019s legacy generation, albeit aging, Ultra High Frequency Follow-On spacecraft. The first four MUOS craft are supplying UHF communications today, and MUOS 5 should join in by Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>But MUOS also creates a new era of mobile communications built around 3G cellular technology to relay narrowband tactical information such as calls, data messaging, file transfers and email on rates of up to 384 Kilobits per second.<\/p>\n<p>That advanced service will begin for combatant commanders by year\u2019s end and expand throughout the military over the next two years as terminals are built and deployed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs a retired Army colonel who led soldiers in theater in Iraq, I can tell you firsthand that MUOS is a game-changer,\u201d said Mark Woempner, Lockheed Martin\u2019s MUOS program director.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUsers of the legacy satellite communications system can \u2018talk,\u2019 but they are limited to conversations between users under the footprint of the same satellite,\u201d said Woempner. \u201cMUOS is a game-changer for our forces, establishing a global military cellular network through which they can reach out to each other \u2014 and exchange mission data \u2014 almost anywhere around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16194\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16194\" style=\"width: 678px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16194\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/muospreview_front.jpg\" alt=\"An artist's concept of MUOS 5 in orbit. Credit: Navy\" width=\"678\" height=\"381\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/muospreview_front.jpg 678w, https:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/muospreview_front-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16194\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s concept of MUOS 5. Credit: Lockheed Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Once checked out and declared operational, MUOS 5 will go into service for the legacy UHF users. The 3G-type services will be held in reserve since the satellite is a spare to replace one of its sister-craft in the future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLike its predecessors, MUOS 5 has two payloads to support both these new Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) waveform capabilities, as well as the legacy Ultra High Frequency (UHF) satellite system, used by many mobile forces today,\u201d Woempner said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn orbit, MUOS 5 will augment the constellation as a WCDMA spare, while actively supporting the legacy UHF system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The sophisticated MUOS system is designed around the commercial third-generation cellular telephone architecture to substantially increase the number of users and amount of communications that can be routed to military forces aboard ships, submarines, aircraft and land vehicles, plus terminals in the hands of troops.<\/p>\n<p>The overall cost of MUOS is $7.7 billion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith the satellite constellation complete, we are committed to continuing the work with our stakeholders to deliver the full suite of MUOS capabilities to operational use for our warfighters,\u201d said Capt. Joe Kan, Navy\u2019s MUOS program manager.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/172141524\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The UHF communications routed through previous Navy satellites and now MUOS provide command and control between combat leaders and their warfighters, connectivity to tactical forces, communications for Special Operations and support to rapid deployments of land, air and naval forces worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>MUOS also enables users to communicate with smaller \u201crugged smartphones\u201d devices, unlike the bulky gear needed to talk with the Ultra High Frequency Follow-On satellite fleet.<\/p>\n<p>With the older satellite system, users had to be stationary with an antenna positioned directly toward the satellites to send out information.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou won\u2019t have to come out from under cover to make a call anymore,\u201d Woempner said.<\/p>\n<p>MUOS will enable communications on the move, enabling users to send and receive data, make calls and watch video anywhere.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith that smartphone comes the ability to introduce new applications, new ideas that haven\u2019t yet been envisioned by the warfighter. It is exciting to think about over the next 10 years about how this system is actually going to be used versus how it was envisioned to be used by the original designers,\u201d said Jim Parsons, the Navy program office\u2019s technical director.<\/p>\n<p>Two gold mesh antenna reflectors, built by Harris Corp., are the heart of the MUOS communications payload. Coverage to legacy users will transmit through a 17.7-foot-diameter reflector on the craft and the advanced, multi-beam features of MUOS to significantly increase the transmission capacity over the Navy\u2019s previous satellites will use a large 46-foot reflector on the satellites.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/171813128\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In their launch configuration atop the Atlas rocket with the two power-generating solar arrays stowed on the sides and the umbrella reflectors folded up, each MUOS stood 22 feet tall, 12 feet wide and 6 feet deep. The craft were built on Lockheed Martin\u2019s A2100 satellite design used by dozens of previous communications spacecraft.<\/p>\n<p>Since 1978, Atlas rockets have conducted 24 launches with communications satellites for the Navy.<\/p>\n<p>The MUOS No. 5 launch was the 63rd Atlas 5 launch and the third this year. For United Launch Alliance, it marked the 108th flight for the company and the fifth of 2016.<\/p>\n<p>Next up is the secretive NROL-61 mission launching July 28 aboard an Atlas 5 from the Cape. The unclassified launch period extends from 8 a.m. to 12 noon EDT (1200-1600 GMT).<\/p>\n<p>Seven more Atlas 5 flights \u2014 with a mix of national security, civil and commercial payloads \u2014 are planned through the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>See earlier MUOS 5 coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Our Atlas archive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CAPE CANAVERAL \u2014 And then there were five. The constellation-building Atlas 5 rocket from United Launch Alliance successfully deployed the fifth communications spacecraft for the Navy\u2019s Mobile User Objective System today to form a new rugged smartphone network for the U.S. military. \u201cMUOS is a revolutionary system in its infancy,\u201d said Navy Commander Peter Sheehy, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[724,3535,25,472,3536,3537,3538,3539],"class_list":["post-15420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-atlas-5","tag-av-063","tag-launch","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-mobile-user-objective-system","tag-muos","tag-muos-5","tag-navy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}