The future German television broadcasting satellite system

A German television broadcasting satellite, known as TV-Sat, is being developed with direct receiving terminals. WARC 77 has allocated frequency ranges and antenna illumination zones for the system's future use; according to the Haeberle study (1977), the project could be put in operation with the 1982/1983 Ariane launching. A joint German-French WARC-compatible project was undertaken, whereby both countries would build a satellite having three, rather than five, transmitting channels. The satellites are required to have a transmitting uplink band of 17.3-17.7 GHz and a downlink band of 11.7-12.1 GHz; the antenna transmit boresight crosspolar on the German TV-Sat is -40 dB. The TV-Sat is built on a modular concept, consisting of the antenna module, the communication module, the service module, the propulsion module, and two solar generator wings. It is designed with a development potential to allow for five simultaneous transmitting channels.