Having recently pulled out of its Odyssey medium earth orbit satellite venture (CI No 3,315), TRW Inc has agreed to supply Lockheed Martin Corp with the payload for its communications satellite system Astrolink, and has taken an option to invest in the $4.25bn project. TRW has been trying to set up a commercial satellite strategy, but so far has not had much success. It pulled out of the Odyssey project at the same time as settling a number of patent lawsuits with rival medium earth orbit satellite outfit ICO Global Communications and taking a stake in ICO. The company says it has not yet decided whether to take up the stake in Astrolink, which is a nine-satellite constellation that will provide high speed data transmission over the Ka-band high frequency radio spectrum. Astrolink will provide services such as corporate intranets and video-on-demand, and is aiming to beat its dozen or so rivals to market.
