Transmitter maker Continental Electronics has its eyes on the stars.
The Dallas-based company announced a contract with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to provide a “prototype transmitter subsystem” for NASA’s Deep Space Network. That’s the series of whomping big antennas in Spain, Australia and California that NASA uses to communicate with spaceships.
Continental Electronics President Dan Dickey called the work a “key element of the DSN.” Continental declined comment on the value of the contract.
A Continental release stated: “The transmitters will utilize Continental’s proprietary high-voltage power supply technology that delivers very low-noise power with extremely high efficiency. This technology has already been proven in hundreds of transmitters in both commercial and military applications. The DSN will benefit because the modular nature of the system improves system availability and reduces maintenance costs.”
The transmitters will be part of a more efficient system utilizing 34-meter antennas rather than the larger, older 70-meter antennas.
