HITEC + SES TechCom… EDRS Control Factors (SATCOM)

[SatNews] HITEC Luxembourg S.A., the Luxembourg based engineering and technology company, announced that it has been selected…

…for provisioning four antenna systems as part of the satellite ground stations to monitor and control the EDRS satellite network. The project is led by SES TechCom, a subcontractor to DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt), which recently signed a contract with Astrium to furnish major parts of the ground segment. The contract with HITEC Luxembourg includes the design, manufacturing and on-site installation of the antennas at key sites in Germany, UK and Belgium.

“The ground infrastructure is an essential part of European Data Relay Satellite System (EDRS). The high quality standard in product and service delivery of SES TechCom ensures that all requirements for such an innovative ground segment are met. Relying on the experience gained in several successful accomplished European projects with our partner HITEC Luxembourg, we selected the company to supply the four antenna systems,” said Gerhard Bethscheider, Managing Director SES TechCom.

EDRS is the European network of geostationary satellites which acts as gateway between Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and ground stations. The system will allow these LEO satellites to deliver data continuously in broadband quality, even with no line-of-sight to their respective ground station. EDRS will offer new opportunities in data acquisition and delivery following disasters and foster new applications in the field of environmental protection, security and weather forecasting. The innovative 6.8m diameter, limited motion antennas will play an integral role in the system architecture of the EDRS. The EDRS ground stations will consist of two ‘feeder link’ ground stations (FLGS) and two data ground stations, all operating in Ka-band. The first satellite ground stations are scheduled to be delivered by year end 2013, with the last ones being installed by mid 2014.

The project in the frame of the EDRS system implementation follows the recent delivery of a 13m full-motion antenna operating in Ka-band to the DLR. The repeated selection of HITEC Luxembourg by SES TechCom for the delivery of the four antenna systems constitutes a major recognition of the company’s achievement potential and trust in the technical expertise.