Available Bandwidth Doubled

The ninth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL< on 18 March on board a United Launch alliance DELTA IV rocket.

The Boeing satellite was funded by an agreement between the US and Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and New Zealand; it will also serve Australia, which funded WGS-6. Each partner nation gains access to the capabilities provided by the complete WGS constellation, including flexible, secure communications in the X- and Ka-band frequencies.

The final satellite in the planned series of ten is tentatively scheduled for launch in 2018. WGS-8, -9 and -10 feature upgraded digital channelisers, which almost double the available bandwidth of earlier satellites in the series.