Article Posted on : - Aug 24, 2011

TacSat-4 is scheduled to launch from the Alaska Aerospace Corporation’s Kodiak Launch Complex into a highly elliptical orbit aboard an Orbital Sciences, Minotaur-IV+ launch vehicle. Photo: Alaska Aerospace Corporation.

WASHINGTON (BNS): US Naval Research Laboratory has announced to launch the Naval Tactical Satellite IV (TacSat-4) from the Alaska Aerospace Corporation’s Kodiak Launch Complex on 27th September, 2011.

The satellite will aboard an Orbital Sciences Corporation Minotaur-IV+ launch vehicle.

According to NRL, the TacSat-4 spacecraft will be deployed into a unique, highly elliptical orbit with an apogee of 12,050 kilometers. This orbit will help to augment current geosynchronous satellite communication by including high latitudes.

TacSat-4 is a US 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.

Marking the 100th launching of an NRL built satellite into orbit, TacSat-4 is an experimental spacecraft that will test advances in several technologies and SATCOM techniques, it said.