- HITEC Luxembourg and SES ASTRA TechCom present -the TT&C Antenna System

Luxembourg/Betzdorf, July 7th, 2008: H.R.H. Grand Duke Henri visited the test site for the new Galileo antenna systems to witness the latest developments. The Grand Duke was welcomed by Minister François Biltgen, Secretary of State Octavie Modert, Lord Mayor of Niederanven Raymond Weydert, Mr. Nicolas Comes, Cofounder & Chairman of HITEC Luxembourg, Mr. Ferdinand Kayser, President & CEO of SES ASTRA, and Mr. Yves Elsen, Managing Partner & CEO of HITEC Luxembourg.

When an international call for tender was issued for Galileo, Europe's global satellite navigation system, the industrial consortium made up of SES ASTRA TechCom S.A. and HITEC Luxembourg S.A. was commissioned for a project in the middle of 2006. HITEC Luxembourg was selected with its Luxembourg partner SES ASTRA TechCom S.A., an SES group company, to build two large telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) antenna systems to track the Galileo satellite fleet in orbit from the ground.

The reason for the visit is that the first TT&C antenna system has been set up and pre-accepted in Niederanven. HITEC Luxembourg S.A. has installed the first Luxembourg test stand on the site of its partner firm Carrosserie Comes & Cie to to validate the antenna and check all mechanical movements. The complex antenna system, 13 metres in diameter and with horizontal mobility of 360°C and vertical mobility of 180°C, can communicate to the Galileo satellites over the entire horizon and while they are visible from its installation sites. They are not only state of the art in terms of the Sband, the GALILEO frequency range, but also in view of operations conditions of up to 150 km/h wind speed.

The visit by H.R.H. Grand Duke Henri is a great honour for the project consortium and a chance to demonstrate the work done in the field of space technology in Luxembourg. The project was presented by Pierre Hirtt, Founder and CTO of HITEC Luxembourg and Jos Giannandrea, VP Operations & Customer Service, SES ASTRA TechCom. “During the entire project our teams demonstrated their high degree of know how and professionalism which led to a high quality product which we can offer not only to Galileo but to the entire European Space industry”, stated Jos Giannandrea. The presentation also included a live demonstration of the mechanical functionalities of the antenna. H.R.H. The Grand Duke executed some commands himself and witnessed the mobility of the more than 50 tons heavy antenna. The presentation was concluded by a visit of the technical rooms in the interior of the antenna pedestal. Pierre Hirtt said: “The collaboration with the experts of ESA and of their industrial partners reinforces our technological know how in the fields of system modeling and –simulation, skills which I consider as mandatory when offering high quality and innovative industry solutions”.

Galileo is not the first project where innovative satellite services and technologies have been provided and used, but Luxembourg firms have already been working in this field for about 20 years. There has also been more potential for innovative solutions since Luxembourg joined ESA in 2004. Taking part in a major project like Galileo is a big challenge, but it is also a chance to demonstrate on an international level the skills available in Luxembourg. This kind of cooperation strengthens Luxembourg's international position in advanced technology. Cooperation with other firms also allows especially small and medium-sized firms an opportunity to become actively involved. The combination of different technologies creates a unique set of skills that gives Luxembourg and Luxembourg companies based companies a valuable advantage.

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