Kratos Awarded
Satellite Ground
System Contracts to
Support Thaicom 8
Satellite
May 8, 2015
Kratos Defense &
Security Solutions,
Inc.
announced that
Thaicom Public
Company Limited (Thaicom),
Thailand's satellite
operator, awarded
Kratos Integral
Systems
International
(Kratos ISI)
contracts for a
Satellite Control
Center (SCC)
and a Tracking,
Telemetry and
Command (TT&C)
Station.
Both will support
the new Thaicom 8
satellite. The
projects, which are
direct contracts
with Thaicom, were
awarded to
Kratos under
two separate
procurements.
Scheduled for a
first half 2016
launch, Thaicom 8
will have a total of
24 Ku-band
transponders
covering
Thailand,
South Asia
and
Africa
and will serve
customers' needs for
increased Ku-band
capacity. Thaicom 8
is a GeoStar2
telecommunications
satellite built by
Orbital ATK. This
will be the 16th
Orbital ATK GeoStar
satellite that
Kratos ISI has
supported.
Kratos ISI will
deliver a complete
satellite control
system for Thaicom 8
based on Kratos'
EPOCH® command and
control and OASYS®
flight dynamics
solutions, which are
the flagship
products of the
EPOCH IPSTM
Integrated Product
Suite. EPOCH IPS is
an all-in-one
satellite fleet
management system
with the ability to
simultaneously
control multiple
satellites from
different
manufacturers from a
single consolidated
system. EPOCH IPS
presents a more
efficient and
economical
alternative to
costly stove-piped
command and control
systems and provides
Thaicom a control
platform that can
scale to support any
future satellite
fleet expansion
needs.
The TT&C station,
provided by the
Kratos ISI
UK team,
will be the primary
TT&C earth station
for Thaicom 8 and
will include an 11m
C-Band turning head
antenna with a
monopulse tracking
system and fully
redundant RF system.
The antenna offers
continuous
wide-angle steering
combined with
high-accuracy
pointing and
tracking from its
precision drives
system, while the RF
system is fully
frequency-agile. As
such, the system
will support both
nominal on-station
and emergency TT&C
operations.
"We are very honored
by the trust Thaicom
has shown in the
quality of our
products and
services as well as
our ability to
provide the
end-to-end satellite
ground system that
will help ensure
safe and efficient
operations of the
Thaicom 8
satellite," said
James Kramer,
Senior Vice
President at Kratos
ISI. "It was an
important milestone
for Kratos ISI as we
continue to support
the Asian satellite
market."
