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The Alphasat program is a comprehensive international launch services partnership between the public and private sectors. Inmarsat is the first commercial customer for Alphabus, the new powerful European telecommunications platform jointly developed international launch services by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. The initiative for this platform was taken by ESA and CNES (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales) to answer the growing international launch services demand for satellite communications for new broadband, broadcasting and mobile services. Coordinated European response to
The satellite is from orbit at 25 degrees east longitude Africa, Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Alphasat complements the existing constellation of Inmarsat satellites and create new, advanced services possible.
Astrium Satellites is the prime contractor for the development of the satellite. Part of it is the advanced L-Band mission, a major extension international launch services to the successful services already provided by the Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) Inmarsat. The brain of the new equipment is the advanced embedded processor, which is currently under development by the British Astrium Satellites. The processor provides the flexibility needed to complete reconfiguration and variable energy.
Thanks to this efficient spectrum usage and increased flexibility is communication via Alphasat in crisis and disaster situations reliable, are also homes, schools and businesses in remote areas accessible, are countries with a dispersed population to have communication links and to wide range of private sectors as media, shipping and oil and gas industries rely on enhanced voice and data communications.
For this application, the flexibility of the design international launch services of the Alphabus platform international launch services demonstrated a so-called 'geomobiele configuration' with a communication direction perpendicular to the flight direction and a large deployable reflector (diameter of 12 meters).
In addition to the charge of Inmarsat is Alphasat also equipped with three ESA instruments for demonstration purposes (Technology Demonstration Payloads - TDP): an advanced star tracker with active pixel technology, an optical laser terminal for geostationary to LEO communication at high data rates, and an application-specific tool for characterization of transmission performance in the QV band in anticipation of a possible commercial exploitation of these frequencies. Furthermore, even talks about a fourth TDP for space applications and Effects Monitoring.
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