Benoit Royer
EADS Astrium Ltd, Anchorage Road, Portsmouth
Hampshire
United Kingdom
PO3 5PU
European Space Agency
European Space Agency
The primary goal of the programme is to design and develop a dual frequency beacon EQM, operating at Ku-band frequencies.
Full qualification testing of the dual Ku-band beacon product is also planned, enabling the product to be offered on the commercial market.
Dual Frequency Ku-Band Beacon
The proposed design is based on the previously qualified single beacon, with the additional main features:
The main benefits of the programme are summarised below:
The beacon product is based on technology developed by Astrium in the Generic Flexible Payload (GFP) programme, with common building blocks being re-used on the beacon product. The dual frequency beacon is a derivative of the previously developed single beacon product.
The programme duration is 16 months, starting in February 2012.
Unit qualification is planned to complete by April 2013.
The programme was completed in July 2013 with the successful completion of the qualification testing of the dual Ku-band beacon product.
Since then Astrium has been successful on the commercial market with the award of multiple flight programmes.
