Artist rendition of the EUTELSAT KONNECT satellite. Photo: Eutelsat

Swissto12 revealed Wednesday that it has delivered a large batch of waveguide signal interconnects to Thales Alenia Space for the Eutelsat KONNECT Very High-Throughput Satellite (VHTS) program. Swissto12 has worked on the design, manufacture, and testing of these products with Thales Alenia Space over the last year.

This is the first large scale delivery Swissto12 has made to Thales Alenia Space for 3D printed waveguide solutions for communication satellite payloads. These products help improve waveguide routings, with designs that would have been challenging to produce using traditional waveguide manufacturing technologies.

Eutelsat is currently preparing to launch its KONNECT internet service for Africa and Europe. Eutelsat CEO Rodolphe Belmer recently told Via Satellite that the KONNECT satellite is expected to enter commercial service between October and the beginning of 2021, and the technical equipment rollout was delayed by the pandemic.