The Multiple Paths, Beyond-Line-of-Sight Communications (MUBLCOM) satellite (COSPAR 1999-026B, SATCAT 25736), built for

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The building was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As ...

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

, was launched in May 1999 by a

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

. Its mission was to demonstrate a capability to provide space-based digital voice and data communications to combat forces or commercial users that were previously considered out of range of standard radio communications systems. On April 15, 2005, the Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft collided with the MUBLCOM satellite while attempting to rendezvous with it.

References

* http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/148072main_DART_mishap_overview.pdf * http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/payload/missions/terriers/ Communications satellites Satellites orbiting Earth Spacecraft launched in 1999 Satellite collisions Spacecraft launched by Pegasus rockets {{communications-satellite-stub