The first Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite has completed Passive Intermodulation (PIM) testing, Electromagnetic Interference (EMI), and Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) testing as well as the Spacecraft Level Baseline Integrated System Test (BIST), Lockheed Martin [LMT] said.
Completion of the three test efforts is a significant milestone for the first MUOS satellite, the company added.
MUOS is a Navy effort to provide the warfighter with the latest mobile technology such as simultaneous voice, video and data, as well as improved service to legacy users of the current Ultra High Frequency Follow-On (UFO) system.
Completion of PIM testing assures that intermodulation generated from the high power satellite downlink transmissions do not interfere with the extremely low power signals uplinked from the legacy terminals used by the warfighter. The EMI/ EMC testing ensures self-compatibility of the payloads on the satellite, as well as satellite compatibility with the launch vehicle electromagnetic environment. BIST testing verifies the overall performance of the fully integrated MUOS spacecraft is compliant to the MUOS Performance Specification and establishes a performance baseline prior to entering the environmental test phase, which includes acoustic, sine vibration and thermal-vacuum testing, Lockheed Martin said.
“Completion of PIM, EMI and EMC on the first pass and in less than two months on a UHF satellite as complex as MUOS is the result of months of planning and hard work by the entire MUOS space segment team,” Navy Capt. Jack Nicholson, acting program manager of the Communications Satellite Program Office, said in a statement. “This team was efficient at identifying and completing risk reduction activities that led to this major testing milestone.”
The first MUOS satellite, along with the associated ground system, is scheduled for on-orbit hand-over to the Navy in 2011, Lockheed Martin added.
Lockheed Martin is leading a team that includes General Dynamics [GD] and Boeing [BA].