Capricorn Space CEO Mark Thompson has announced that British company CGC Systems has been contracted to supply and install the first antenna systems at the first Australian Ground Network site near Geraldton in WA (AGN-W).
The facility will offer targeted ground segment service plans to satellite operators who require southern hemisphere coverage. The initial development of the AGN-W site allows for six antenna systems, with the first two being owned and operated by Capricorn Space to provide on-demand access to multiple customers.
“I am pleased to announce that we have recently signed a contract with CGC Systems of Basingstoke, UK to supply and install two 5 meter S/X-Band antenna systems at our AGN-W site," Thompson said.
"This contract award followed an extensive industry wide engagement and formal tender process during the second half of 2018 and this contract award is in line with our program timeline of offering commercial services by mid-2019."
“The antennas to be supplied are the CGC Model T350SX.”
“We are excited to be working with Capricorn Space on this project, a first for CGC in Australia using our highly effective X/Y antennas," CGC Technology CEO Dr Mark Gardner said.
“The remaining antenna pads are available for third party hosting and we are in discussion with a number of operators to take advantage of the strategic location our site offers," Thompson added. "Our ability to resolve the regulatory, power and communications challenges to establish this site has attracted significant interest from the global satellite industry.
"We have the ability to expand further on this site as demand dictates and are now forward planning for our second AGN site in eastern Australia (AGN-E), to follow before end 2019.”
The ground station is one of a number currently under construction around the country, including a Defence Satellite Ground Station at Kapooka.
The new ground station will provide site and frequency redundancy to the Wideband Global Satellites visible from mainland Australia.