Objectives and Applications
Overall mission objectives:
Demonstration of a high dwell time ORS capability via a HEO (Highly Elliptical Orbit).
Evaluation of Phase 3 system level bus standards in a realistic I&T, launch and flight operations environment.
Demonstration of mobile data communications services. Particular goals are: Provision of TacSat/ORS COTM (Communications-on-the-Move) radio capability (legacy and MUOS-like wideband) where MUOS (Mobile User Objective System). The goal is to arrive eventually at the JTRS (Joint Tactical Radio System) which enables various radio types to communicate with each other, leading to a family of interoperable, software-defined radios.
Collection of BFT (Blue Force Tracking) devices in underserved areas.
Perform buoy/sensor Data-X on Moderate-to-High Power Transmissions.
Full Name
Tactical Satellite-4
Mission Status
Operational (nominal)
Mission Agencies
DoD (USA)
Launch Date
27 Sep 2011
Mission Links
EOL Date
Sep 2031
Orbit Type
Highly elliptical
Orbit Period
240 minutes
Orbit Sense
Orbit Inclination
63.4 deg
Orbit Altitude
6375 km
Orbit Longitude
NORAD Catalog #
International Designator
No IDN OpenSearch datasets found.