Dr. Fritz Merkle, program director for SAR-Lupe at the Bremen-based space company OHB-System AG, observed the first hardware test for the radar satellites with great anticipation in Ulm yesterday. At Thales Electron Devices GmbH, the capabilities of the traveling wave tube were successfully demonstrated for Tesat-Spacecom GmbH & Co. KG. “This marks the completion of a key milestone in the project”, explained Merkle, “as this combination of band width and performance constitutes a major technological advance.”

As demonstrated yesterday, the particularly powerful transmitter tube is responsible for amplifying the microwaves which are sent by the satellites to the earth and are ultimately used for generating high-resolution images.

Tesat-Spacecom is responsible for developing the high-performance amplifier for the SAR-Lupe radar. This transmitter tube forms a key element of the amplifier, development of which has been contracted out to Thales Electron Devices.

In October, OHB-System lodged a progress report on the SAR-Lupe project on schedule for critical review by the German Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement. This milestone, the critical design review, was also completed successfully.