NRL TacSat-4 Spacecraft Encapsulated

The Naval Research Laboratory's Tactical Satellite IV (TacSat-4) has been encapsulated inside the fairing (nose cone) of an Orbital Sciences Corporation Minotaur-IV+ launch vehicle in preparation for a Sept. 27 launch from the Alaska Aerospace Corporation's Kodiak Launch Complex.

This brief time-lapse video shows how the TacSat-4 spacecraft is mated to the launch vehicle adapter prior to being encapsulated in the nose fairing of an Orbital Sciences Minotaur-IV+ launch vehicle. In near-final flight configuration the Navy's fourth-generation tactical communications satellite, is ready to be fitted for launch aboard a Minotaur-IV+ rocket for a planned year-long mission.

Encapsulated into the nose of an Orbital Sciences Corporation Minotaur-IV+ launch vehicle, TacSat-4 is scheduled to launch from the Alaska Aerospace Corporation's Kodiak Launch Complex into a highly elliptical orbit, providing multiple combatant commanders around the globe an additional outlet for data transmission and communications on the move.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsored the development of the payload and the first year of operations. The Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office funded the launch that is managed by the Space Development and Test Directorate (SD), a directorate of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC).

TacSat-4 is a Navy-led joint mission which provides 10 Ultra High Frequency (UHF) channels and allows troops using existing radios to communicate on-the-move (COTM) from obscured regions without the need for dangerous antenna positioning and pointing. To augment current geosynchronous satellite communication, the TacSat-4 spacecraft will be deployed into a unique, highly elliptical orbit with an apogee in the high latitudes of 12,050 kilometers.

"Communication is a critical warfighting requirement," said Dr. Larry Schuette, ONR's director of innovation. "Developed, more rapidly and at lower cost, TacSat-4 supplements traditional communications satellites and provides much needed support to forward deployed forces at sea and Marines on the ground."

TacSat-4 provides flexible up and down channel assignments, which increase the ability to operate in busy radio-frequency environments and will cover the high latitudes and mountainous areas where users currently cannot access UHF satellite communications (SATCOMs). The NRL Blossom Point Ground Station provides the command and control for TacSat-4. The Virtual Mission Operations Center (VMOC) mission planning system allows dynamic reallocation to different theaters worldwide that enables rapid SATCOM augmentation when unexpected operations or natural events occur.

Fully encapsulated, TacSat-4 is readied for transport to the Kodiak launch site to be fitted to Orbital's Minotaur-IV+ space launch vehicle.

TacSat-4 is an experimental spacecraft that will test advances in several technologies and SATCOM techniques. Ultimately, TacSat-4 will augment the existing fleet by giving the SATCOM Support Centers (SSC) an additional space asset to provide communications to otherwise under-served users and areas that either do not have high enough priority or do not have satellite visibility. The project also helps define future options for launching one or more smaller, highly elliptical orbit (HEO) satellites allowing the military to achieve the benefits of a combined HEO and geosynchronous orbit constellation.

The spacecraft bus was built by NRL and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) to mature ORS bus standards. It was developed by an Integrated (government and industry) System Engineering Team, the "ISET Team," with active representation from AeroAstro, Air Force Research Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Laboratory APL, ATK Space, Ball Aerospace and Technologies, Boeing, Design Net Engineering, General Dynamics AIS, Microcosm, Microsat Systems Inc., Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, Orbital Sciences, NRL, SMC, Space System Loral, and Raytheon. The Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E) funded the standardized spacecraft bus.

TacSat-4 is managed by the Naval Research Laboratory Naval Center for Space Technology and will be the 100th NRL built satellite launched into a celestial orbit.

Fully encapsulated, TacSat-4 is transported via flat-bed truck to the Kodiak launch facility.

Inside the Alaska Aerospace Corporation's launch service facility, the nose fairing containing TacSat-4 is fitted aboard an Orbital Minotaur-IV+ space launch vehicle

Fully integrated to the Orbital Minotaur-IV+ rocket, TacSat-4 awaits an early morning (Tues., Sept. 27) launch from the AAC Kodiak launch facility.

About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is the Navy's full-spectrum corporate laboratory, conducting a broadly based multidisciplinary program of scientific research and advanced technological development. The Laboratory, with a total complement of nearly 2,500 personnel, is located in southwest Washington, D.C., with other major sites at the Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Monterey, Calif. NRL has served the Navy and the nation for over 85 years and continues to meet the complex technological challenges of today's world. For more information, visit the NRL homepage or join the conversation on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

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