[Satellite Today 04-03-09] Com Dev USA was awarded a $20 million contract by Boeing to supply passive microwave components for the next generation of NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS), a constellation of geosynchronous communication satellites, Com Dev announced April 1.
    The contract award includes an initial $1.6 million awarded in September in the form of an authorization to proceed.
    Under the contract, Com Dev will develop and produce 68 different designs with nearly 500 deliverable hardware items, including filters, diplexers, switches, ferrite devices and ancillary microwave components on two TDRS spacecraft, with delivery anticipated by the end of Com Dev’s 2010 fiscal year.
    Design and production work will be performed at Boeing’s manufacturing facility in El Segundo, Calif., and Boeing will have the option to order equipment for a two additional satellites.