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Telesat Taps Intellian for Lightspeed Gateway Antennas

File photo: Telesat Alan Park ground station facility near Hannover, Ontario. Credit: SpaceQ.

Telesat has awarded a contract to Intellian to supply 127 gateway antenna systems for use with Telesat’s Lightspeed low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation.

The South Korean company will “design, supply, install, and integrate” the gateway antenna systems at 20-30 landing stations locations globally.

The gateway antenna systems are to support the 198 Lightspeed LEO satellites which will begin launching in in mid-2026.

In the news release, Telesat said, “Intellian’s 4-meter Gateway Antenna System has been meticulously engineered to optimize tracking precision and high gain performance for LEO satellites and durability in all weather conditions. Built to withstand the harshest environments without the need for radomes, the Gateway Antenna System not only enhances RF efficiency, it also reduces long-term maintenance and energy costs.”

“Each Landing Station will be equipped with multiple Intellian Gateway Antennas, as well as baseband, network, and control systems. These stations will route customer data to Points-of-Presence for telecom networks, internet, and cloud services, and will also facilitate private interconnections for customer networks.”

Aneesh Dalvi, Vice President for Telesat Lightspeed Systems Development said, “Intellian has been a valued partner in flight operations and testing programs with Telesat’s LEO demonstration satellites; their proven performance and innovation makes Intellian an ideal partner for our advanced LEO satellite program. Intellian’s engineering excellence and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities were key drivers in this contract award. We have the right partner to ensure that our global terrestrial infrastructure is deployed and integrated with our space assets to deliver services globally in 2027.”

Eric Sung, CEO at Intellian Technologies Inc added, “Our collaboration with Telesat has been exceptional, and the resulting Gateway Antenna Systems are a fascinating addition to our portfolio. Seeing how our heritage and experience in delivering innovative design solutions transitioned over to gateway antennas has been very rewarding. This evolution with Telesat solidifies the crucial role we play within the satellite communications ecosystem even more.”

About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and Executive Vice President, Content of SpaceNews. Boucher has 25+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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