News

As part of a French consortium, Callisto joins the SKA Organization

SKA? The acronym stands for the largest radio telescope ever imagined. This international project of low and medium frequency radio telescopes plans to build  with a collector area of ​​one square kilometer. Coordinated by the CNRS, the SKA-France consortium has just become the 12th member of SKA-O, which is the  organization responsible for the feasibility study and design of the telescope project. The SKA-France consortium  includes five research organizations (the CNRS, the universities of Bordeaux and Orléans, the observatories of Paris and the Côte d'Azur) as well as seven industrialists (Air Liquide, ATOS-Bull, Callisto, CNIM, Kalray, TAS). Several French laboratories have participated in technical preparatory studies for the project, some since the beginning in 2012. Once operational, the SKA, or "Square Kilometer Array", should allow to perceive the traces of the creation of the Universe 15 billions years ago.

Callisto supplied  the Cryogenic & Ambient LNAs at 26 GHZ GHz band for the ESA Snowbear project : a Svalbard ground station for wide-band  earth observation data reception.

Due to congestion in the Earth Exploration Service (EES) at X-Band (8.0-8.4 GHz) and  (7.75-7.9 GHz) used today by most Earth Observation satellites for payload  data downlinks and the increase in required downlink data rates, ESA has embarked on the  technology preparation for the exploitation of the 26 GHz band by future Earth Observation  missions. The Agency will use this band operationally for the first time in a polar orbit mission  for the EUMETSAT Metop-SG spacecrafts (first Launch in 2021), currently under development by ESA. The purpose of the SNOWBEAR project (Svalbard grouNd StatiOn for Wide Band Earth observation dAta Reception) is to de-risk the introduction of the new 26 GHz band taking advantage of the outcome of a number of activities already carried out by the ESA Ground Station Engineering team (OPS-GS) as part of the 26 GHz Technology  Roadmap and use them on a pre-operational scenario. 

For this project, Callisto provided a 26GHz dual channel Cryogenic  and Ambient LNAs. As a result, this allowed to obtain a G/T  > 37.2 dB/K for the Cryogenic LNA and  a G/T  > 35.3 dB/K for the Ambient Temperature LNA (considering 5 degree elevation and 0.25 Cumulative Distribution).

Callisto will attend the 6th TSS, the international gathering for space stakeholders between 26-28th June, booth B19, at Centre de Congrès Pierre Baudis in Toulouse.

Callisto is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in the USA for the next generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) project.

Callisto is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract by Intertronic Solutions, to supply 2 units of Compact Cryo Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) in K-Band (20GHz). 

Since the first developments of Cryogenic LNA in S- and Ka-Band in 1999 for ESA Deep Space Station (DSS) in New Norcia (Australia) followed by 2 other Cryogenic LNAs in X- and Ka-Bands for ESA DSS in Cebreros (Spain) and Malargüe (Argentina), Callisto has acquired a know-how and continues to improve its products with disruptive innovations.

Today, Callisto is proud to announce the development of a new X-Band cryo-cooled feed prototype for ESA DSS.

Callisto is pleased to announce its attendance as an exhibitor at the Satellite 2018 (SATShow), which will be held from 12th to 15th of March at the Convention Center (801 Mt. Vernon Place NW) in Washington, USA.

The Callisto Days 2017 was held on December 8-9, 2017 at Callisto's premises, in Villefranche de Lauragais (close to Toulouse), France.

Callisto is pleased to announce our attendance at the International Microwave & RF Conference 2017 which will be held December 11-13, 2017 at the Hyatt Regency in Ahmedabad, India. We will be represented by our agent for the Indian Market: Western Systems. You are welcome at our booth no 39.