TacSat-4 enables polar region SatCom experiment

The US Coast Guard Cutter HEALY (WAGB 20) successfully experimented with NRL's TacSat-4 communications satellite, January 24, by communicating from the Bering Sea off the western coast of Alaska to Coast Guard Island, Alameda, Calif. The USCG cutter HEALY (WAGB-20) escorts Russian fuel tanker Renda in Alaska's Bering Sea, Jan. 11, 2012. Returning from an escort and icebreaking mission to Nome, Alaska, assisting the Russian tanker Renda delivery of emergency fuel to the town, the USCGC HEALY -- Coast Guard's only polar icebreaker -- was approximately 260 nautical miles south of the Arctic Circle at the time of the test. Deployed into a unique, highly elliptical orbit with an apogee of 12,050 kilometers, TacSat-4 helps augment current geosynchronous satellite communication by including the high latitudes. The experiment was the first in a series of planned steps that aim to demonstrate TacSat-4's utility in the polar and arctic regions.