In Broadcast - September 2020 - 17

17

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 10 - Issue 9 | September 2020

InSAT

Triple Mission Success
For Ariane 5
O

n Saturday, August 15 at 22:04
UTC, Ariane 5 Flight VA253 was
successfully performed from the Guiana
Space Center, orbiting two satellites
produced by Northrop Grumman:
Galaxy 30 for Intelsat, and MEV-2 for
SpaceLogistics LLC, a 100% subsidiary
of Northrop Grumman; along with
BSAT-4b, built by Maxar Technologies
for the Japanese operator B-SAT.

"Arianespace is delighted to have
served two loyal customers - Intelsat
and B-SAT - as well as Northrop
Grumman's subsidiary, SpaceLogistics
LLC," declared Stéphane Israël, the
Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace.
"As part of this mission, three
satellites were deployed by the most
powerful Ariane 5 ever launched, thus
demonstrating the competitiveness of
our launch solutions and our capability
for continuous innovation."
The Galaxy 30 UHD video
distribution/broadcast and broadband
satellite, built for global network
operator Intelsat, will cover North
America.
BSAT-4b will be used for UHD directto-home television broadcasting across

Japan, in conjunction with its twin,
BSAT-4a, launched by Arianespace in
2017.
The Arianespace relationship with
satellite operators Intelsat and B-SAT
has continued for several decades, and
has grown stronger over time. Since
1983 - the date of the first mission for
Intelsat - Arianespace has launched
61 satellites on behalf of this global
operator. For B-SAT, the Japanese
operator has entrusted Arianespace
with the launch of its entire fleet - a
total of 10 satellites.
Flight VA253's third passenger, the
Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV2), is a satellite servicing vehicle
designed to dock with satellites in
orbit. It will provide life extension
services. MEV-2's first customer will
be the Intelsat 10-02 satellite, which
has been in service in geostationary
orbit since 2004 and will have its
operational life extended by five
years. The triple-payload launch
performed with Flight VA253 to orbit
two telecommunications satellites
and a servicing spacecraft is a first for
Ariane 5.

Flight VA253 utilised the Ariane 5
heavy-lift launcher, developed and
produced by ArianeGroup, which has
increased its payload capacity by 85kg
for this flight with the introduction of
a new vehicle equipment bay (VEB) bringing total capacity for the satellite
payloads to 10,200kg on missions to
geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
This Ariane 5 launcher the
most powerful ever operated by
Arianespace, marking the culmination
of the continuous improvement
program for Ariane 5's performance
and
competitiveness
that
was
implemented in 2016 by ArianeGroup

Ariane 5
launch vehicle

for the benefit of Arianespace. It has
provided a performance gain 300kg.,
which continues to be available for
customers on Ariane 5 missions
planned until the end of the launcher's
operation.
The Ariane 5 launcher is a joint
European
government-industry
program.
Arianespace is responsible for
marketing and operating Ariane 5
launches from the Guiana Space
Center in Kourou, French Guiana, with
support from teams of the French
space agency (CNES) and the European
Space Agency (ESA).

C-COM Award To Develop
Antenna Technology
C

-COM Satellite Systems Inc has
been awarded a one million dollar
non-refundable financial contribution
from the Canadian Space Agency
(CSA) over the next two years for the
continued development of its phased
array antenna technology.

Working in partnership with a
renowned research team at the
University of Waterloo's Centre for
Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems
(CIARS), C-COM has been developing
a next generation Ka-band flat panel
antenna based on advanced phased
array technology for enabling highthroughput mobility applications over
satellite targeting land, airborne and
maritime markets.
The CSA funding will be used to
continue the research project of the
antenna development by focusing
on the development of a low-cost,
modular, and conformal Ka-band

antenna for the next generation
mobile satellite communications.
A new generation of 4x4 antenna
modules will be developed based on
a highly improved, power efficient,
low noise and reduced cost MMIC's
(Monolithic Microwave Integrated
Circuits).
Currently a 32x32 (1024 elements)
Transmit and Receive demonstrator
phased-array panels, which are based
on an earlier generation of MMICs,
have been developed and are now
under testing in the labs at the Centre
for Intelligent Antenna and Radio
Systems (CIARS) at the University of
Waterloo. "The development of the
new generation of 4x4 modules, which
will be based on new gen of MMICs,
will give C-COM the required high
performance building blocks to extend
the existing technology from proofof-concept prototype level to a fully

mobile Electronically Steered Antenna
to be used for real-time satellite
tests," said Bilal Awada, CTO of
C-COM Satellite Systems Inc. The fully
electronically steered Phased Array
Mobile Satellite Antenna will be able to
track multiple satellites simultaneously
and operate on the latest LEO, MEO
and GEO constellations.
Professor
Ali
Safavi-Naeini,
Director of CIARS, oversees the
research team at the University
of Waterloo responsible for this
project, said: "Measured lab results
using first generation modules have
demonstrated the high performance
of the modular scalable intelligent
Transmit and Receive antenna arrays
and validated our simulation models
for larger 256 and 1024 panels. This
new development project will validate
our new generation MMICs modules as

4x4 Phased Array Antenna Modules

well as the deployment of larger scale
array panels."
"We very much appreciate the
support and assistance from the
Canadian Space Agency. This funding
will make it possible for us to
continue with the development and
advancement of this novel antenna
technology," said Dr Leslie Klein,
President & CEO of C-COM Satellite
Systems.
"It will take us a step closer towards
the completion of the design, testing
and manufacturing of an affordable
intelligent antenna system capable of
supporting the latest constellation of
satellites, which will play a significant
role in delivering high speed
broadband solutions to global mobile
satellite communication markets," he
said.
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