U.S. Navy NRL TacSat-4 Completes Coast Guard Communications Test
By Jeffrey Hill | March 14, 2012
[Satellite TODAY 03-14-12] The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy successfully experimented with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) TacSat-4 satellite by communicating from the Bering Sea off the western coast of Alaska to Coast Guard Island in Alameda, Calif., NRL announced March 12.
The Navy said the experiment was the first in a series of planned steps that aim to demonstrate TacSat-4’s utility in the polar and arctic regions. TacSat-4, an experimental military spacecraft, operates from a unique, highly elliptical orbit to help augment current geosynchronous satellite communication by including the high latitudes.
The U.S. Office of Naval Research is funding the first year of TacSat-4 operations. The Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office is leading and funding the joint meritorious unit award of TacSat-4.