Development of 45W Q-band Space Qualified TWTs

Beijing Vacuum Electronics Research Institute (BVERI) has developed a series of Ka band space traveling wave tubes (TWTs) with saturation power of 12-100 W and efficiency of 55-63% for data transmission and communication for both conduction and radiation cooling. Recently Q-band space TWTs with conduction-cooled and space qualified are developed which are capable of delivering over 45W saturated RF power with overall efficiency exceeding 45%. This paper gives the main technical characteristics of Q-band space TWTs’ design, performances and qualification tests over 5.5 GHz bandwidth.