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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Aust-built satellite to revolutionise remote comms By James Pearce, ZDNet Australia December 16, 2002 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/communications/soa/Aust-built-satellite-to-revolutionise-remote-comms/0,130061791,120270701,00.htm
The first Australian built satellite in over 30 years has been successfully launched in Japan, in a move which is hoped to revolutionise remote telecommunications. The FedSat satellite was constructed over the last four years by the Cooperative Research Centre for Satellite Systems (CRCSS) and was the first foreign satellite launched by Japan's Space Agency. FedSat carries a Ka-band transponder designed to handle the new experimental usage of the high-frequency and high-capacity Ka part of the radio spectrum. The next-generation Ka-band satellites use multiple pencil-like spot beams to provide full two way services to and from small earth stations about the same size as a satellite television dish. The CRCSS is developing remote area communications applications utilising Ka-band technology, and FedSat will test the Ka-band transponder circuits in space for the first time. The satellite also contains the world's first use of reconfigurable computing technology in space. Reconfigurable computers can change their physical circuits via software control, allowing new circuits to be added by remote control. This means satellites can be rewired without having to retrieve them, which could open up new realms of spacecraft adaptability, including re-use of old spacecraft. FedSat will allow the CRCSS to study the basics of working with reconfigurable computers in space, including research on their susceptibility to radiation, which is of interest to the international community.
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