Photo: Mission Microwave

Mission Microwave will provide solid state power block upconverters (BUCs) for the landing stations for Telesat Lightspeed under a deal the companies announced Monday. 

BUCs are a core component of the landing station infrastructure, where traffic from the satellite constellation is connected to points of presence for telecom networks, internet and cloud services, and private interconnections for customer networks.

Mission Microwave specified that antennas at the landing stations will be integrated with the company’s 100-watt BUCs with Gallium Nitride (GaN) amplifier modules and wide band 27.5-30 GHz upconverters. Telesat commented that the BUCs have a compact design and exceptional radio frequency (RF) efficiency.

“We worked diligently with the Telesat Lightspeed engineering team to offer a solution that countered initial assumptions and improved the overall efficiency of the base stations. We enjoyed the challenge of working with a leading technology team that could appreciate the value of our company’s innovative products and are very proud to be a part of the Telesat Lightspeed program,” commented Mission Microwave CEO Francis Auricchio. 

Mission Microwave provides X-, Ku-, and Ka-band BUCs. The company also supplies Ka-band BUCs for user terminals for the SES O3b mPOWER system. 

Telesat has been ramping up supplier deals in recent months as it works toward initial satellite launch for Lightspeed late this year; signing a deal with Calian Group for the data platform, and a user terminal agreement with Farcast.