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SES Techcom, Astrium and DLR to furnish parts of ground segment for EDRSAug 25, 2012 (Datamonitor via COMTEX) -- SES TechCom, a subsidiary of SES S.A. has announced that it has signed contracts with Astrium and DLR to furnish important parts of the ground segment for the European Data Relay System, or EDRS. Within the scope of EDRS, SES TechCom will supply satellite control stations and data reception facilities to be built on the premises of the earth stations in Weilheim (DLR), Redu (Belgium) and Harwell (UK). SES TechCom will also ensure the operability of the satellite control station in Redu on behalf of DLR. All installations provided by SES TechCom will work in the Ka frequency band, which allows for the transfer, storage and terrestrial relay of very high quantities of data in the gigabit range, the company said. EDRS will utilize two geostationary 'relay' satellites that, due to their fixed position in space, will record the communications data of lower-flying earth observation satellites and transmit this data without significant time delays to Earth. Therefore, the observation satellites are no longer tied to the short contact times during their flight over the respective earth stations, as has been the case up to now. Within the scope of EDRS, optical laser technology for data transfer is planned to be put into operation for the first time. Small laser communication terminals will be employed that can transfer up to 1.8 gigabit of data over a distance of 45,000 kilometers. That's the equivalent of about 100,000 printed A4 pages per second. http://www.datamonitor.com Republication or redistribution, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without prior written consent. Datamonitor shall not be liable for errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon |