Following manufacturer Astrium as they build a state-of-the-art communication satellite.

https://www.youtube.com/v/cvZWr2DOAAk

The new BBC series of ‘How to Build’ will feature Astrium in a programme on the manufacture of a telecommunications satellite.  The hour long documentary was filmed in Stevenage, Portsmouth, Ottobrunn, Toulouse and Kourou and features many of the people involved in the design, manufacture, engineering, assembly and test of our spacecraft.

The programme will be screened this Sunday, 27 November, on BBC2 at 20.00.  The series began on 13 November with ‘How to build an A380 wing’, the second programme focused on a McLaren sports car.

Astrium Ltd CEO Colin Paynter is delighted: “To be featured in this high profile series is proof that our skills, expertise and manufacturing excellence are increasingly recognised by the media and public at large.  And I am sure it will further enhance awareness of the space activities in Astrium.  My thanks to all those throughout the company who contributed – and I look forward to seeing the programme.”

The programme wwas available to download on the BBC iPlayer for at least 7 days after the original broadcast.

Eric, thanks for the tip :)

This diagram below may help understand how a satellite communications payload works. This is just a simplified conceptual design - it is not a real satellite !
https://www.satsig.net/satellite/satellite-block-diagram.gif

The uplink receive antennas at the satellite each have a coverage area and polarisation.

The low noise amplifiers and downconvertes are similar to a satellite TV LNB.  In the above example the conversion frequency is 3 GHz, changing 14.123456 GHz uplink to 11.123456 GHz downlink frequency.

The input multiplexers each comprise five bandpass filters, each 100 MHz wide, which define the transponder bandwidth.

Each of the five 4 in x 4 out switch matrixes are set by ground command to connect any up beam to any down beam in any transponder. (e.g. North America up and Africa down in the band 14.2-14.3 to 11.2-11.3 GHz).

The Power amplifiers may be typically 20 - 100 watts.

The ouput downlink antennas each have a coverage area and polarisation.

Best regards, Eric.