A satellite carrying Europe’s first S-band payload – operated by Solaris Mobile – was successfully launched at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 3.
Dublin based Solaris Mobile, a joint venture between two of the world’s leading satellite operators, Eutelsat and SES Astra, aims to provide fully digital mobile video, navigation and emergency assistance services to Broadcasters, Telco operators, the Automotive industry and Data & Communication providers.
With its S-band payload (at 2.2 GHz), Solaris Mobile will be the first player to provide mobile, seamless coverage across Europe. In addition, twelve Ku-band transponders link to a fixed beam serving southern Africa and Indian Ocean islands, while 10 C-band transponders will provide pan-African coverage.
It was the 50th launch for International Launch Services, an American company, headquartered in Reston, Va., with the majority shareholder Moscow’s Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. It launches both commercial missions and Russian government payloads from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, operated by the Russian Space Agency under lease from the Republic of Kazakhstan
The W2A satellite, launched yesterday, will allow content providers to deliver a range of mobile TV, radio and other data content services for handheld devices such as phones, PDAs, iPods and game consoles. Vehicle owners can also expect a range of entertainment and location-based services to compliment their navigation systems.
Built by Thales Alenia Space, the solar panels and 12-metre S-band antenna will be fully deployed by the end of next week. W2A is expected to be fully operational at 10 degrees East around the end May with commercial services due by the end of 2009.
ICO launched their G1 satellite, with a 40 foot antenna, in April of 2008. It was the largest satellite yet into space. ICO plans to deliver video and interactive services directly to vehicles in North America via roof-mount vehicle antenna. So far it’s been station-keeping.
In June of 2009, TerreStar, an even larger satphone bird, is expected to unfurl its gold mesh 60 foot antenna and aim it at the United States. TerreStar-1 will pick up signals from phones that are not much larger than regular cell phones and has a roaming agreement with AT&T for calls that don’t go through the satellite. An even larger one, the $1.2 billion SkyTerra monster next year will operate at a lower frequency. They plan to use the L-Band, around 1.6 GHz, for similar satellite phone service.
For now ICO, SkyTerra and TerreStar (which will cover North America) aren’t using their spectrum for ground-based communications. Eventually, however, the companies could put their frequencies to use with their own cell towers on the ground — or sub-lease that spectrum to other carriers.
In other news, SWE-DISH Satellite Systems, specializing in mobile satellite communications equipment, has received XTAR approval for their Suitcase CCT120, an ultra-portable SATCOM terminal, that will operate on X-band satellite systems.
The compact and portable Suitcase CCT120 is the first terminal in its class to receive XTAR operational approval. It features a 1.2-meter antenna and is deployability for U.S. customers of commercial X-band services, focused on U.S. and allied government (military and civil agency) users worldwide.
XTAR owns and operates the XTAR-EUR satellite, located at 29 degrees East longitude and XTAR-LANT, a payload on HISDESAT’s SPAINSAT satellite located at 30 degrees West longitude. Together, these X-band satellites represent the emergence of a new offering in government communications services and cover a geographic region that stretches from Denver east to Singapore, including the entire continents of Africa and South America. The Suitcase CCT120 has been successfully used on both XTAR-EUR and XTAR-LANT satellites.
TeleCommunication Systems (TCS) is another wireless data solutions provider for military and government customers.
The SwiftLink SNAP Suite offers interoperability among three different SATCOM terminals utilizing Ku, Ka and X-band frequencies with L-band service available via the E500 BGAN terminal. The SwiftLink SNAP Suite includes three interchangeable baseband solutions as well as a UPS system and laptop/VoIP phone accessories case to provide the Warfighter with compact, lightweight, highly configurable SIPR/NIPR communications packages.
The TCS Wireless Point-to-Point Link (WPPL) provides secure line-of-sight / non-line-of-sight RF communications over terrestrial microwave radio links at distances extending up to 35 miles. The TCS WPPL allows for NIPR, SIPR, VoIP, Video, and DSN transmission of vital information in a point-to-point or point-to-multipoint configuration.
The X-band is dedicated to military use and uses 7.9 to 8.4 GHz (up), and 7.25 to 7.75 GHz (down). Financed privately, the XTAR satellites were designed and built to provide customized X-band communications services exclusively to U.S. and Allied governments worldwide, in support of military, diplomatic and security communications requirements.
The successful launch of the new Wideband Global SATCOM spacecraft on April 3rd will provide 2.5-3.3 gigabits per second (if it works). WGS craft offer X-band and Ka band with steerable spotbeams. The new satellite will be involved in serving a wide range of users including intelligence imagery, video and commands for the piloting of Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
