SIL in Newbury, England has signed a contract with Orbital Sciences of Germantown, Md., for the provision of S-band equipment for the CalTech GALEX mission. The one-year contract is worth $626,000 and involves the production of X-band and S-band receivers and transmitters.

SIL's Marketing Director, Kim Ward, announced: "We are particularly pleased with this contract since it demonstrates recognition of the high value and quality of our communications equipment. We have already supplied S-band equipment for OSC's ACRIMSAT and SPARTAN programs."

Ward went on to explain the significance of the X-band element of the new contract saying, "We see an increasing number of small satellites needing high data rate downlink communications, a requirement which until now has not been possible within the cost constraints of typical small satellite missions. SIL's expanding range of low cost X-band transmitters, which can handle data rates of 50 Mbits per second, meet this need."

The Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) is a NASA space ultraviolet Small Explorer mission that will map the global history and probe the causes of star formation over 80 percent of the life of the universe. This is the period over which galaxies have evolved dramatically, and the time that most stars, elements, and galaxy disks had their origins. The GALEX spacecraft is scheduled to be launched in 2001. The mission is expected to last approximately 28 months.

SIL, acquired in 1998 by SpaceDev, is a space products company specializing in design and manufacture of inexpensive satellite subsystems and turnkey mini- and micro-satellites. SpaceDev capabilities include small spacecraft and satellite design and construction, ground stations, and spacecraft subsystems; plus launch vehicles and aerospace design and analysis services. With headquarters in San Diego, SpaceDev is a Colorado corporation with offices in Arlington, Va.

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