TSAT satellite passes space design review

SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 7 (UPI) -- A joint venture by Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman has completed a key design review of the U.S. TSAT military comsat.

The communications satellite is now ready for its next phase, Lockheed Martin said in a news release Monday.

About 300 military and industry representatives were involved in the recent Space Segment Design Review for the TSAT, or Transformational Satellite Communications Systems, which took three days at Lockheed Martin's California facility in the Silicon Valley.

"We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this important review," said Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President Joanne Maguire. "Our TSAT solution builds upon technologies we've pioneered and matured to provide significantly improved, flexible communications for the warfighter."

TSAT is slated to replace the existing Milstar and Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites currently in use by the Pentagon. The system will feed a variety of voice, video and data information into the Global Information Grid network that connect intelligence sensors with air, ground and at-sea units. Transmissions speeds will be dramatically increased using optical-communications technology and Internet Protocol.

The recent design review covered the details of the proposed TSAT surveillance, reconnaissance and on-the-move communications capabilities. Demonstrations of the capabilities were performed on an integrated payload and end-to-end systems test bed, Lockheed Martin said.