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The 7th Ka Band Utilization Conference

This is the second time that a special issue based on the works of the Ka Band Utilization Conference has been published, this time in Space Communications an International Journal, and all of us that have been involved with the conference are very proud of this distinction.1 As Guest Editors, we want to express our sincere thanks to Geoff Hyde, Editor-in-Chief of Space Communications for this honor. We also want to thank the members of the Technical Committee of the 7th Ka Band Utilization Conference for their support over the years in the selection of the papers and the make-up of the conference sessions. Finally, our thanks to Dr. Richard Gedney, former NASA ACTS Project Manager, and to Robert A. Bauer, current NASA ACTS Project Manager for their assistance in the difficult task of choosing the papers to be included in this special issue. At the time of the conference, despite the events of September 11, the prospects for the realization and utilization of the Ka Band Broadband systems appeared good, and there was optimism that several systems would begin operations in the 2003 time frame. Those expectations were suddenly dashed by the announcement in November that Astrolink would stop work, and