Products that meet your scientific and military data transmission requirements.
Thales is the world's leading supplier of Traveling Wave Tubes (TWTs) for satellites and other spacecraft. Our TWTs are used on satellites spanning the full range of civil and military applications including space-based TV and radio broadcasting, data transmission, telecommunications, internet, observation and navigation.
Thales has developed unrivalled expertise in space-borne TWTs with a product offering at frequencies from L-band to V-band and power levels at 275 watts. Thales is widely recognized as a pioneer and innovator in space TWTs while we have consistently developed new technologies that have led to decisive improvements in TWT efficiency and thermal performance. These advances have allowed satellite manufacturers to increase transmission power and reduce spacecraft mass. Thales also provides TWT amplifiers (TWTAs) for space applications. Thales offers high performance solutions covering all current needs.
The X-band TWTs operate at frequencies from 7.25 to 9 GHz, at up to 160 W of power and are are primarily used for two applications:
- Data transmission for scientific missions (meteorolgy, climate, environment), and observation of the Earth and other planets.
- Military data transmission.
X-band space TWT milestones (through Janaury 2012):
- nearly 500 X-band TWTs delivered
- logging over 10 million hours of in orbit service