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October 2, 2020

Press Releases

C6 Launch’s newest innovation is changing the world of phased antenna arrays. The C6 STARS prototype will be presented for the first time at the International Astronautical Congress this October 12 – 14th, in a symposium talk given by Tayo Shonibare, Director of Avionics. The scalable, phased array provides a novel communication system for small launch vehicles and nano spacecrafts that is lightweight, low power, and low cost. The project builds on previous work by the same team and we acknowledge the support of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) [20STDPK2]. The phased array system – previously unavailable at a small size ­– is a hybrid of a digital transceiver and analog beamformer, and so carries the scalability and precision of digital designs with the simple components of an analog phased array to focus radio beams on specific ground targets to improve space-ground communications. An upcoming System Integration and Engine Test utilizing the C6 STARS transceiver, demonstrates the system’s functionality. The C6 STARS phased array system is a low cost, power saving, scalable communications system and the team is looking forward to presenting the project at the upcoming IAC meeting. For the IAC agenda, see https://www.iafastro.org/events/iac/iac-2020/technical-programme/technical-sessions.html.