Displaying items by tag: Lband

Alphasat is a mobile communications service spacecraft in GEO of Inmarsat Plc. of London, UK, referred to as Inmarsat 1-XL. It uses the first next-generation European Alphabus platform and carries in addition to the commercial Inmarsat payloads four hosted TDPs (Technology Demonstration Payloads) of ESA (European Space Agency). The Alphabus/Alphasat project is covered by the ARTES-8 (Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems) European program. The four hosted payloads on Alphasat I are: ¹⁾

• TDP1: An advanced LCT (Laser Communication Terminal) representing a further development of already existing flight hardware on TerraSAR-X, NFIRE and TanDEM-X. The objective is to demonstrate GEO-LEO ISLs (Intersatellite Links) of high data rate transmissions (optical link at 1064 nm, 1.8 Gbit/s user data rate), complemented with a Ka-band payload developed by Tesat Spacecom (Germany). The payload is funded by DLR.

• TDP5: Two experimental Q/V-band communications transponders to assess the feasibility of these bands for future commercial applications - developed by TAS-I and Space Engineering, Italy.

• TDP6: Demonstration of an advanced Star Tracker with active pixel detector - developed by Jenoptik of Germany.

• TDP8: Demonstration of an environment effects facility to monitor the GEO radiation environment and its effects on electronic components and sensors - developed by Effacec (Portugal).