Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station saw the launch of an Atlas V rocket on Tuesday along with a U.S. Navy satellite.
United Launch Alliance (ULA), which consists of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, fired the rocket in order to give the U.S. military access to faster and more secure phone services in remote spots around the world, according to The Guardian. The Mobile User Objective System (MOUS) 3 satellite will accomplish this by working with two other advanced navy satellites.
Atlas rockets have been used for years for a variety of missions, such as NASA's recent missions to Jupiter and Pluto.
MOUS is a $7.3 billion system that uses five satellites to provide high-quality voice and data through a high-speed internet system, Tech Times reported. The rocket required five solid boosters, along with a booster engine made by Russia, since the satellite weighs close to 15,000 pounds.
The satellite will feed information to the Ultra High Frequency Follow-On satellite system while orbiting Earth for nine days. It will provide cellular services to troops, aircraft, submarines, ships and vehicles back on the ground.
"Thanks to the Atlas team for the safe delivery of MOUS-3 into our Geosynchronous Transfer orbit. The addition of this satellite will give the MOUS constellation coverage over more than three-quarters of the globe, further extending the reach of the advanced communications capabilities MOUS will provide our mobile warfighters," said Iris Bombelyn, Narrowband Communications vice president for Lockheed Martin.
The goal for MOUS is to eventually replace the legacy system, Tech Times reported. ULA will launch the fourth satellite later this year and the fifth satellite in 2016.
