Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer

This device is a traveling wave tube (TWT), built by Martin Marietta in the early 1990s for the BS-3N communications satellite, owned by the Japanese NHK television company.

TWTs have been and remain a critical technology for communications satellites in geostationary orbit. After a satellite receives a signal, processes it, and then prepares to transmit it, the satellite must first amplify the signal to ensure that it arrives at a receiving antenna on Earth with sufficient strength and integrity. Typical TWTs can amplify a signal by a factor of 100,000 to 1,000,000.

Lockheed Martin donated this artifact to the Museum in 1998.

 Display Status

This object is on display in One World Connected at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.

One World Connected
Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type SPACECRAFT-Uncrewed-Instruments & Payloads Manufacturer General Electric Space Systems Division
 Dimensions Overall (as pictured): 55.9 × 14 × 35.6cm (1 ft. 10 in. × 5 1/2 in. × 1 ft. 2 in.)
3-D (Larger Black Box): 34 × 8.7 × 13.7cm, 2.7kg (1 ft. 1 3/8 in. × 3 7/16 in. × 5 3/8 in., 6lb.)
3-D (Smaller Black Box): 35.6 × 5.9 × 3.7cm, 0.7kg (1 ft. 2 in. × 2 5/16 in. × 1 7/16 in., 1.5lb.)
 Materials Non-magnetic white metal
Aluminum
Anodized Coating
Synthetic Fabric
Steel
Synthetic Rubber
Paint
Plastic
Paper
Adhesive
Ink
Gold Plating
 Inventory Number A19980291000 Credit Line Gift of Lockheed Martin Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use.