. 24/7 Space News .
SPACEMART
Recycling a space antenna
by Staff Writers
Paris (ESA) Sep 09, 2016


ESA's new 35m dish in Australia

A decommissioned ESA ground station from Australia will be returned to service in the Azores, highlighting an innovative reuse that benefits both the Agency and European industry.

In December 2015, ESA's tracking station in Perth, Western Australia, had to be closed owing to radio spectrum restrictions imposed by the national telecommunications authority.

The closure comes at a time when ESA's station network - a mix of three, modern 35 m-diameter deep-space dishes and a mix of older, 15 m and smaller Earth stations - is adapting to evolutionary pressures, especially the need to increase science data download for future exploration missions such as Juice, Euclid and BepiColombo.

"At the same time, there is a need to support the development of commercial tracking service capabilities within European industry," says Manfred Lugert, responsible for the network at ESA's control centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

"The network must nonetheless maintain and develop specific capabilities for tracking newly launched satellites and launcher rockets, and provide dedicated support in the event of any spacecraft contingencies."

The estimated costs for simply scrapping the Perth station were significant, so the situation called for a solution that would benefit both ESA and European industry.

An answer in the Atlantic ocean
For almost a decade, ESA has worked in close cooperation with Portugal to maintain and operate a 5.5 m-diameter dish for tracking rockets on Santa Maria island, in the Azores. The island's mid-Atlantic location is ideal for tracking launchers such as Soyuz and Ariane lifting off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

This cooperation has enabled local industrial partners to develop and expand their capability to provide tracking services, and Portugal, an ESA Member state, was eager to see this expand, if possible.

In December 2015, Portugal expressed a desire to acquire the Perth antenna with the aim of upgrading and re-opening it at Santa Maria station, providing new opportunities for Portugal's national industry.

"ESA agreed in principle, and we worked with our Portuguese partners to develop a plan under which the antenna can be used to provide tracking services to a range of customers, including the Agency's own science missions, the downlinking of Earth observation data and, potentially, tracking the Proba-3 mission," says Thomas Beck, responsible for external services involving the network.

"This will help to provide expanded commercial and scientific opportunities for Portuguese industry while also enabling ESA to procure tracking services when necessary, so it's a real win-win result."

Long-distance re-lo
The Perth antenna and associated equipment will be transferred at no cost to Portugal. Dismantling at Perth, transportation to Santa Maria and re-erecting the antenna will be carried out under ESA contract almost completely funded by Portugal. The Azorean regional government will provide some of the new site infrastructure to accommodate the large antenna.

On 29 August, the Portuguese Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, and ESA Director General Jan Woerner formalised the intention of Portugal to acquire the antenna by signing a corresponding document at ESA Headquarters in Paris.

For ESA, the initiative means that the Agency's network, which in a typical year provides over 50 000 hours of tracking services through nine core stations in seven countries to support some two dozen spacecraft, will have access to an additional, valuable external tracking resource.

"While it's important for ESA to develop and maintain a full range of spaceflight abilities and capacities, it's also important for us to help our Member States and European industry develop commercially valuable competences," says Rolf Densing, ESA's Director of Operations.

"We're delighted that venerable ESA infrastructure can be reutilised by Portugal, helping boost Europe's space competitiveness."


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Estrack at ESA
The latest information about the Commercial Satellite Industry






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

Previous Report
SPACEMART
Winning team of ESA's Mars-focused data mining contest
Paris (ESA) Sep 07, 2016
ESA's first data-mining competition has been won by a team from Slovenia. Contestants were challenged to predict the future status of ESA's Mars Express spacecraft from past operating data. The results may help to extend the life of the mission, which has been orbiting Mars for 12 years. After a close-run contest, the winner is a seven-strong team from the Department of Knowledge Technologies of ... read more


SPACEMART
Space tourists eye $150mln Soyuz lunar flyby

Roscosmos to spend $7.5Mln studying issues of manned lunar missions

Lockheed Martin, NASA Ink Deal for SkyFire Infrared Lunar Discovery Satellite

As dry as the moon

SPACEMART
Mars hosted lakes, snowmelt-fed streams much later than previously thought

Opportunity departs Marathon Valley to head deeper into Endeavour Crater

Mars Rover Views Spectacular Layered Rock Formations

Storm Reduces Available Solar Energy on Opportunity

SPACEMART
Pentagon push to tap tech talent in 'weird' Texas city

Astronaut returns home after logging record-breaking 534 days in space

'Star Trek' 50-year mission: to show the best of humanity

Vietnam's 'Silicon Valley' sparks startup boom

SPACEMART
China launches second space lab: Xinhua

China to launch second space laboratory: Xinhua

No Storm for Tiangong 2

China eyes year-long stays for space station astronauts

SPACEMART
US astronauts complete spacewalk for ISS maintenance

Space Station's orbit adjusted Wednesday

Astronauts Relaxing Before Pair of Spaceships Leave

'New port of call' installed at space station

SPACEMART
Virgin Galactic signs Sky and Space Global as LauncherOne customer

A quartet of Galileo satellites is prepared for launch on Ariane 5

What Happened to Sea Launch

SpaceX scours data to try to pin down cause rocket explosion on launch pad

SPACEMART
ALMA locates possible birth site of icy giant planet

New light on the complex nature of 'hot Jupiter' atmospheres

Discovery one-ups Tatooine, finds twin stars hosting three giant exoplanets

Could Proxima Centauri b Really Be Habitable

SPACEMART
Developing composites that self-heal at very low temperatures

With great power comes great laser science

Metal in chains

Chemists watch the insides of batteries in 3D









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.