Sweden upgrades Ka-band system |
By Chris Forrester
25 November 2021
Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has upgraded its polar and equatorial locations to support Ka-band data reception and has rolled out a global Ka-band network mainly focused on Earth observation missions (EO). This important milestone will enable EO missions to use higher bandwidth and receive larger volumes of data, enabling space companies to use their assets more efficiently.
The upgrade spans SSC’s strategic locations in Punta Arenas in Chile, Sri Racha in Thailand, Inuvik in Canada and Esrange in Sweden, as well as SSC’s partner station in Weilheim, Germany.
The network upgrade is based on the latest work where Ka-band capacity was added to SSC’s polar locations in Canada and Sweden. While the polar stations provide large data volumes with good latency, the equatorial stations allow increased volumes and enable timely coverage for selected regions. The expansion continues as the company plans for complementary Ka-band antennas, starting with the two new radom antennas that were introduced in northern Sweden in 2021.
“We are very pleased to introduce the world’s first global Ka-band network for Earth observation missions. SSC always strives to offer ground support that reflects market size and ambitions. This investment meets the growing demand for higher throughput capacity for Earth observation missions,” said Miranda Pirrie, President Satellite Management Services at SSC.
“By operating a global network that includes both polar and equatorial stations with a high level of redundancy, we are advancing our position as a leading provider of terrestrial connections for Earth observation operations. But it does not stop there, we continue to strengthen our network to have the most advanced technical properties, ”says Patrik Melvås, Head of Business Development SaMS at SSC