EMS Technologies Inc. announced that Orbital Sciences Corp. has named EMS as supplier of the Redundant Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) Assembly for the HYLAS 2 Ka-band satellite.
The contract value over its 16-month term is $5.4 M, and places EMS Defense & Space (D&S) as one of the few US-based space-qualified Ka-band LNA providers, aside from major space prime contractors, in the fast-growing satellite broadband market. Market research firm NSR expects global Ka-band demand to increase at a 26.4 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2008 and 2018.
The HYLAS 2 satellite, to be built by Orbital and operated by Avanti Communications Group plc, the UK’s only fixed satellite service operator, is scheduled for delivery in early 2012. When launched, the satellite will have triple the satellite capacity of its predecessor, HYLAS 1, and will serve Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The HYLAS 2 satellite, designed with advanced Ka-band technology, will facilitate high-speed delivery of data for applications such as corporate networking, broadband Internet access, business continuity services and video distribution.
"Our work on Avanti’s next-generation GEO satellite program is an important milestone for EMS as a supplier to the Ka-band market, while strengthening our relationship with Orbital, a key commercial prime customer in the space market," said Norm Johnson, Vice President of Business Development for EMS D&S. "We are integrating our LNA and ferrite switching technology into one compact package, which will provide both redundancy and reliability to the satellite’s operation."
