Steve Nichols
Astrium, formerly Matra Marconi Space, has selected EMS Technologies in Canada to supply three combined transmit/receive antenna feeds for the Inmarsat Broadband Global Area Network (B-GAN) programme.
The $25m contract is for the multi-element L-band antennas, considered to be the most challenging subsystems of the B-GAN programme.
B-GAN will consist of three I-4 satellites, two of which will be launched in 2003, with the third earmarked as a ground spare. Each satellite will feature 200 spot beams generated by the EMS antenna feeds. These will give corporate customers high speed (432kbps) internet access, video-on-demand, video-conferencing, fax and email across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Source: Flight Daily News
