First space highlight in September:

September 2024

DLR’s national SatKom – a reflection of the steady development of HPS into the high-tech forge of the German space industry

It will take place again on September 3 and 4: The national conference “Satellite Communications Conference in Germany”. This is already the eighth event of its kind and reason enough to speak of a successfully established tradition.  

In Bonn, leading representatives from industry, research and public clients will discuss satellite communications as an incubator for the information society of tomorrow.

From its premiere in 2008 until today, Munich-based space technology company HPS has remained loyal to the event as an exhibitor and panelist. What began with a modest presentation on “mechanical components for telecommunication” has developed into a central technology showcase for the German medium-sized company, which is now a “gold sponsor” of the event. Among other things, HPS now produces entire antenna subsystems for the most demanding missions and applications. Iconic highlights of German space-tech such as Heinrich Hertz and EUCLID provide impressive proof of the excellence of customized reflector antennas and high-end reflectors on a daily basis.

With HERA, whose complete antenna comes from HPS, will be another contender for the history books of space in October. Reliability and technical excellence – these are the characteristics on which the company builds. This claim is also reflected in the main exhibits on the 12 square meters of the HPS stand in the breadth of a whole range of original hardware:

• The KEAN backpack/manpack antenna for civil and military purposes
• The EQM model of the H2Sat reflector
• Brackets made entirely from 3D printing for star sensors, antenna feeds and also for modules of the world’s leading braking sail ADEO for the legally compliant rapid disposal of decommissioned satellites in accordance with the latest international rules for their launch approval
• Reflective mesh for deployable antennas
• The 30-centimeter X-band antenna, also printed in 3D.

While the 12 square meters of the exhibition stand are thus reaching their limits, the presentation of HPS’s capacities for the concrete development of further future technologies is only just beginning here; the focus is on

• Small antennas from 3D printing
• Large deployable reflector subsystems for telecommunications – both for civilian and military users, especially the German Armed Forces – technically comparable to the CIMR antenna for the European Union, developed and built under HPS consortium management
• Dual-band antennas, e.g. for the X and KA bands for downlink
• Multifrequency receiving antennas
• Metal Mesh for the global market, developed under the ESA’s ARTES program, also suitable for higher frequencies and already in use by highly renowned reference customers in North America and Asia.

 At the booth, HPS CEO Ernst K. Pfeiffer, HPS department head Stefan Bedrich and project engineer Christopher Tapp will be available to contacts from large companies, the German Armed Forces and commercial customers from the NewSpace sector with functional demonstrations of the KEAN manpack antenna and of the ADEO brake sail for accelerated deorbit of decommissioned satellites, which deploys automatically at the end of the mission. In addition, Stefan Bedrich will report on the “Heinrich Hertz North Beam Antenna” and “End-to-end tests with the KEAN deployable backpack antenna” in the lecture program.