The DAVID mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI - Agenzia Spaziale Italiana)

Italian satellite mission development history is dominated by the need to explore increasing frequency ranges and characterizing, through experimental results, communications channels, in order to render them useful for the design of operational systems using these frequency ranges. the DAVID (DAta and Video Interactive Distribution) Programme is a multi-experiment mission of the Italian Space Agency (ASI - Agenzia Spaziale Italiana). As the frequency range expands, today´s frontiers will be in full use tomorrow; the series provides the status and main achievements of the program to date. DAVID will pioneer the use of the W-band (94 GHz channel) for telecommunications experiments that can contribute to the exploitation of that frequency range for future high-capacity operational services.