Story ID: 
Gogo HDX Satcom Antenna Passes DO-160 Testing
By: Matt Thurber
Caption: System is on track for launch of service later this year
Word Count: 194
The HDX electronically steered antenna (ESA) for Gogo Business Aviation’s Galileo low-earth-orbit satcom service has passed FAA-mandated DO-160 qualification testing. This marks a key step towards the launch of the airborne connectivity service by year-end on Eutelsat’s OneWeb satellite constellation.
Hughes Network Systems, in partnership with Gogo, manufactures the HDX (half-duplex) ESA, which will provide peak system speeds of up to 60 Mbps. The larger FDX ESA is expected to become available in the second quarter of 2025 and should provide peak speeds of up to 200 Mbps. Both ESAs will enable installations on a variety of aircraft size—from turboprop singles to large-cabin jets, with the FDX more suited to larger aircraft.
Gogo dealers are working on 27 supplemental type certificates for Galileo system installations, and these will cover about 18,000 aircraft. The DO-160 testing addresses environmental factors such as “temperature volatility, intense vibration, radio wave penetration, lightning strike, moisture penetration, and flight aerodynamics,” according to Gogo.
"Passing DO-160 keeps us on track to receive the first-article supplemental type certificate and commercially launch Gogo Galileo later this year," said Jeremy Tyler, Gogo's v-p of airborne product engineering.