As part of the agreement with NASA, to support the NiSAR and PACE satellites, Kongsberg Satellite Services - KSAT has installed two large Ka-band antennas, in Svalbard and Punta Arenas, in Chile. The new 11m antenna at Svalbard is antenna number 100 on the plateau, marking yet another milestone for the world’s largest ground station.
In order to provide commercial Ka-band downlink services to the NASA Near Earth Network (NEN) for NiSAR and PACE missions, Kongsberg Satellite Services - KSAT has, as part of the agreement, added two new 11m multi-use Ka-band antennas to their pole-to-pole network.
Multi-mission Tri-Band (X/S/Ka-band) antennas
The multi-mission Tri-Band (X/S/Ka-band) antennas will further increase the KSAT Ka-Band capabilities
The multi-mission Tri-Band (X/S/Ka-band) antennas will further increase the KSAT Ka-Band capabilities, at the ground station in Svalbard, at 78´North and in Punta Arenas, Chile, and will be commercially available in the market as well.
Both antennas have been successfully installed and the systems are performing in accordance to the expectations. Kongsberg Satellite Services - KSAT is the first company to offer a commercial Ka-band capacity, from both the northern and southern hemispheres.
Antennas offer high-speed backhaul capacity
Both antennas are connected to fibre networks, enabling reliable high-speed backhaul capacity, delivering data with Gbit capacity into existing cloud solutions or directly to the customers.
In combination with the Antarctica ground station - Troll, the Punta Arenas ground station provides a unique capacity in the southern hemisphere, which is seen as unparalleled in the market. The KSAT global network now consists of more than 200 antennas, which are located at 23 different sites, all across the world.