[SatNews] Astro Aerospace, a strategic business unit of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), has delivered its fourth deployable AstroMesh reflector to Astrium in Toulouse, France.

This latest reflector is for the Alphasat I-XL spacecraft that will provide commercial, broadband telecommunications services to Europe, Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia. The 11-meter reflector is the latest in a line of AstroMesh deployable, large aperture reflectors, developed and built by Astro Aerospace. The company has supplied three, nine-meter deployable reflectors to Astrium for the Inmarsat-4 satellites since 2004. Built by Astrium as prime contractor and scheduled for delivery in 2012, Alphasat I-XL will carry both a commercial payload for Inmarsat and technology demonstration payloads for the European Space Agency. The spacecraft is based on the high-power Alphabus platform, jointly developed by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, for which it will be the first flight. Alphasat will join the Inmarsat-4 constellation providing worldwide coverage as part of Inmarsat's satellite-based Broadband Global Area Network.

When deployed in space, the Alphasat reflector forms a precision 45 x 38 foot (14 x 11 meter) radio frequency reflective antenna surface, which stows for launch into a compact package weighing about 135 pounds (61 Kg). Including launch support and deployment boom hardware, the total system weighs only 246 pounds (112 Kg). The reflector is a key part of the antenna system used by the spacecraft to provide broadband Internet communications. Enabled by the large reflector, the antenna system's sensitivity allows the use of mobile, laptop-size modems by users around the world. Once the Alphasat satellite reaches orbit, ground controllers will issue commands that control three hinge motors that unfold a 19 foot (6 meter) boom supporting the reflector above the satellite. Additional ground commands are sent to two motors that unfurl the reflector to its fully deployed size.