SpaceX Delivers COTS UHF Communication Unit to NASA
[Satellite TODAY 09-02-09] Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has delivered the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) Ultra High Frequency (UHF) communication unit to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in preparation for launch on Space Shuttle Atlantis in November, SpaceX announced Sept. 1.
The communication unit establishes communication between the International Space Station (ISS), SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft and ground-based mission control. The unit will be delivered by Atlantis to the ISS and integrated in preparation for SpaceX’s future flights to the orbiting laboratory.
In December, NASA awarded SpaceX and Orbital Sciences with the COTS commercial resupply services contract, which includes 12 cargo flights between 2010 and 2015 and represents a guaranteed minimum of 20,000 kilograms to be carried to the ISS. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft will deliver pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the ISS and return pressurized cargo back to Earth.
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