New developments in the WAVE W-band mission

In this paper, an overview of the evolution towards the second phase (A2) of the WAVE (W-band analysis and verification) project is made, and the timeline for the development of a future pre-operative space mission is defined. This includes the definition of a number of advanced preliminary W-band applications such as the utilization of the M-55 Geophysica manned stratospheric aircraft for a number of experiments on the channel propagation in W-band 94 GHz and 82 GHz; the introduction of the LEO nano-satellite mission IKNOW (in-orbit key-test and validation of W-band) which is used for a first uplink-downlink satellite channel characterization and in-orbit validation of W-band technology and space qualification processes. These applications are expected to provide the necessary elements towards the realization of the GEO pre-operative payload defined in the phase-A of the project