Earth to MUOS

Lockheed Martin completed on-orbit testing of the first Navy Mobile User Objective System satellite, the company said in a July 17 statement. The completion of testing allows the Navy to move on to the operational test and evaluation phase in preparation for starting operations next month. The Navy launched the satellite, MUOS-1, on February 24 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The satellite has a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) payload that is meant to provide a large increase in bandwidth over the legacy Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) satellite system.