Europe's Data Super Highway

The ESA has recently put up two Earth observers with optical transmission equipment that allows them to offload their data through the new satellite

16:36 02 February 2016

he European Space Agency has recently put up two optical transmission-equipped Earth observers that allow the agency to offload its data through a new relay satellite, which is to be positioned at 36,000km above the equator at 9 degrees East.

 

The telecommunications satellite, which was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, uses a laser to gather pictures of the planet taken by another spacecraft and then relays them to the ground. This allows government agencies respond faster in cases of emergencies such as flooding and earthquake.

 

"Some important shipping routes go through the North Pole region, where thick ice flows can cause damage to vessels and even threaten human life," explained Magali Vaissiere, Esa's director of telecoms.

 

"It's also an environment in constant motion which means that data that is two days old is not only unhelpful - it could even be unsafe.

 

"We have already demonstrated quasi real-time performance of below 20 minutes for bringing monitoring information from the coast of Brazil to the user's desk. And with this capability, the European Data Relay System (EDRS) may open up a new horizon to what I would call quasi real time Earth observation."