"We are proud to once again support Lockheed Martin on a commercial satellite program," said Bob Henry, president, Harris Government Communications Systems Division (GCSD). "Our team of engineers and designers used our latest reflector design automation tools to quickly develop the design, reduce overall costs, and deliver the reflector to the customer one month ahead of schedule."

The reflector was manufactured at Harris facilities in Palm Bay, Florida, as part of the geo-synchronous satellite's C- and S-band antenna system. The 5.1-meter diameter reflector structure and its support boom weigh only 31 kilograms.

The reflector, attached to the satellite bus by the boom, includes a gold mesh reflective surface and is stowed for launch like a simple umbrella. Once the satellite achieves operational orbit 22,000 miles above Earth, ground controllers send a command signal to the satellite to unfurl the reflector using an electronic motor.

"Harris has produced more than 20 of these types of reflectors for various applications, ranging in size from 5 to 15 meters in diameter," said Henry. "In fact, the very same reflector design for N-STAR c can be scaled from two meters to more than nine meters to give our customers a qualified design with minimum cost and quick turnaround."

The N-STAR c satellite is being procured by NTT Mobile Communications Network, Inc., NTT DoCoMo, Tokyo, Japan, which provides digital cellular communications to most of Japan. Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, Newtown, Pennsylvania, is the satellite prime contractor, integrator and communications payload supplier. Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Virginia, provides its STAR satellite bus for the project.

Harris GCSD conducts advanced research studies, develops prototypes, and produces and supports state-of-the-art, highly reliable communications and information systems that solve the mission-critical communications challenges of its military and government customers, and provides the technology base for the company's diverse commercial businesses.

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