Officials from the joint Transformational Satellite Communications System Space Segment team say they have successfully demonstrated the new High Power Hall Current Thruster electric propulsion. The next-generation technology is being developed for the Air Force TSAT constellation for beyond-line-of-sight communications capabilities.

The TSAT constellation is part of an effort to enable network-centric mobile wideband communication during operations in the battlefield.

"We are extremely pleased with the performance of our next-generation TSAT thruster system," Mark Pasquale, Lockheed Martin TSAT vice president, said in a statement.

"Successful demonstration and validation of thruster capability during the risk reduction and system definition phase is a key achievement for the entire team and represents another major milestone for this critical national program."