European Data Relay System EDRS-C Successfully Launched

The second satellite tv for pc to affix the constellation that types the European Knowledge Relay System (EDRS) was launched by Arianespace on 06 August, 21:30 CEST (19:30 UTC).  The satellite tv for pc was launched onboard an Ariane 5, along with a second passenger, Intelsat 39, from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

EDRS permits folks to look at Earth virtually dwell, accelerating responses to emergency conditions and spurring the event of latest companies and merchandise, to create jobs and enhance prosperity.

EDRS – dubbed the ‘SpaceDataHighway’ by its non-public operator, Airbus – makes use of modern laser know-how to dramatically minimize the time wanted for Earth statement satellites, to ship data to the bottom.

The most recent satellite tv for pc, referred to as EDRS-C, will function in geostationary orbit, at 31 levels East longitude. It should be part of its sister EDRS-A, launched in January 2016. The satellites can transmit information at a price of as much as 1.eight Gbit/s.

The geostationary place, larger than typical low-Earth orbiting statement satellites, will allow the constellation to take care of an virtually fixed reference to the low-Earth orbiting satellites that might in any other case solely transmit their data when in direct line-of-sight with their floor stations, which introduces delays of as much as 90 minutes.

The EDRS satellites can then beam the knowledge again to Earth in virtually actual time. For the reason that finish of 2016, EDRS has, each day, been transmitting pictures of Earth acquired by the Copernicus programme’s 4 Sentinel statement satellites. It’s also on account of relay data from the Worldwide House Station as soon as a brand new antenna is put in on the surface of Europe’s Columbus laboratory.

The EDRS-C satellite tv for pc has been manufactured by OHB System AG based mostly on a SmallGEO Platform. EDRS-C additionally hosts a Ka-band payload referred to as HYLAS three, which is designed to offer satellite tv for pc communications companies over Africa and the Center-East. HYLAS three is owned by Avanti Communications.

EDRS is a brand new, unbiased European satellite tv for pc system, and is a public–non-public partnership between ESA and Airbus as a part of ESA’s efforts to federate trade round large-scale programmes, stimulating know-how developments to attain financial advantages.