Space-Qualified Traveling-Wave Tube

TWT was developed for use as a high-power microwave amplifier for high-rate transmission of data.

The L-3 Communications Electron Technologies, Inc. Model 999HA traveling-wave tube (TWT), was developed for use as a high-power microwave amplifier for high-rate transmission of data and video signals from deep space to Earth (see figure). The 999HA is a successor to the 999H — a non-space-qualified TWT described in “High-Power, High-Efficiency Ka-Band Traveling-Wave Tube” (lew-17900-1), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 31, No. 2 (February 2007), page 32. Operating in the 31.8-to-32.3 GHz frequency band, the 999HA has been shown to generate 252 W of continuous-wave output power at 62 percent overall power efficiency — a 75-percent increase in output power over the 999H.