LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, El Segundo, Calif. – The U.S. Air Force’s sixth Wideband Global Satellite communication spacecraft arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., today.
The shipment of WGS-6 marks an important milestone for the spacecraft and launch campaign. Following arrival at the Shuttle Landing Facility, the spacecraft will undergo final processing, encapsulation and transport to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The launch is scheduled for May 22, 2013.
Wideband Global SATCOM provides anytime, anywhere communication for the warfighter through broadcast, multicast, and point to point connections. WGS is the only military satellite communications system that can support simultaneous X and Ka band communications, with crossbanding that makes it transparent to the warfighter to communicate across terminal types. WGS currently collects and routes real-time data through X-band, K-band, and switchable X-/Ka-band terminals being used for strategic, tactical, and comm-on-the-move communications.
