BOEING’S NEXT-GENERATION DATA RELAY SATELLITES
Boeing
has announced that two of its next-generation tracking and data relay
satellites (TDRS), TDRS-K and TDRS-L, have completed testing in space and on
earth respectively.The TDRS-K has been officially handed over to NASA and will
be renamed TDRS-11 upon entry into service. It provides another critical data
link between low-Earth-orbiting spacecraft and NASA's satellite control
centres.Scheduled for launch in 2014, the TDRS - L has completed performance
testing at the Boeing's satellite facility in El Segundo, California. It is
ready for shipment to Kennedy Space Center, Florida, later this year.
Featuring
improved payload capacity and enhanced communications bandwidth, the TDRS-K and
TDRS-L are the first two of a set of three next-generation TDRS satellites.TDRS-M,
the third satellite in the series, completed a critical design review with NASA
and is currently in the production phase, with launch scheduled for December
2015.
Boeing space and
intelligence systems vice president and general manager Craig Cooning said:
"These state-of-the-art satellites represent a major step forward in
improving high-resolution image, video, voice and data transmission."Established
in 1973, the TDRS project provides continuous communications to NASA's critical
low-Earth-orbiting science and human space flight missions.The TDRS fleet
provides communication support to a wide range of science missions, as well as
several launch vehicles.
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