GOING GLOBAL -- Technician is dwarfed by the 11-foot-tall UHF Follow-On F9 satellite, as it nears completion at the Hughes Space and Communications Company factory in El Segundo, Calif. This is the ninth in the UHF series of HS 601 model satellites built for the U.S. Navy, and the second of three with a wideband Global Broadcast System payload. GBS will revolutionize communications for the full range of the military's high-capacity requirements, from intelligence dissemination to quality-of-life programming. The technician is holding one of three steerable spot beam antennas for the system. Above them is the square, steerable GBS receive antenna, and directly above that, two of three circular feedhorns can be seen. The F8, F9 and F10 satellites continue to carry the baseline narrowband UHF and protected EHF payloads as well. Above the technician's head are three round antennas of varying sizes for the EHF service. Launch of UHF F9 on a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIA rocket is scheduled for Oct. 19, 1998, from Cape Canaveral, Fla.


HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY
Communications and Customer Relations
P.O. Box 92919 (S10/S323)
Los Angeles, CA 90009
(310) 364-6363
www.hughespace.com

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