PARIS — Satellite component builder Kongsberg Norspace of Norway has booked its first two orders for command receivers whose flexibility allows satellite owners more leeway to control their use of broadcast frequencies, Kongsberg said Sept. 2.
Horten-based Kongsberg said the receivers will be placed on the SES-10 satellite owned by fleet operator SES of Luxembourg under a contract with SES-10 builder Airbus Defence and Space. The satellite is scheduled for launch in 2010 and will cover Latin America.
The contract, which Kongsberg said was valued at less than 1 million euros ($1.3 million), is for two receivers for which Kongsberg owns the intellectual property. The company has been selling a first-generation receiver since 2006 under license.
Kongsberg has invested its own resources, coupled with funds from the European Space Agency’s Artes telecommunications research program, to develop its Flex Command Receiver since 2012. Besides giving satellite owners more latitude in tailoring their frequencies, the Flex Command Receiver — one of several similar technologies on the market now — gives owners a better defense against ground-based jamming by allowing them to throttle power up to overwhelm the jamming source.
“The interest the new product has received in the market has almost overwhelmed us,” Kongsberg Chief Executive Sverre Bisgaard said in a statement. “The features offered by the new product seems to be a timely response to new needs from satellite operators.”
