[Satellite Today – 3-24-08] Com Dev International Ltd. has received a $4.7 million Canadian dollar ($4.6 million) authorization to proceed to supply EADS Astrium with multiplexer and switch equipment for the Eutelsat Ka-Sat communications satellite, Com Dev announced March 24.
    Scheduled for launch in mid-2010, Ka-Sat will be the first fully dedicated Ka-band satellite for the European market.
    "It is central to our strategy to remain at the forefront of new commercial communications satellite technologies, and as such we are very pleased to participate in this program which establishes a number of important new benchmarks," John Keating, CEO of Com Dev, said in a statement. "In particular, Ka-band represents the fastest growing segment of the commercial communications satellite market. Manufacturing for Ka-band is technically more demanding and requires an even higher degree of precision than manufacturing for the traditional frequencies.”