European Data Relay System: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:25, 11 January 2022

Revision as of 16:28, 11 January 2022

Line 37:

==Purpose and context==

The designers intend the system to provide almost full-time communication, even with satellites in [[low Earth orbit]] that often have reduced visibility from ground stations. It makes on-demand data available to, for example, rescue workers who want near-real-time satellite data of a crisis region.

There are a number of key services that will benefit from this system's infrastructure:

Line 45 ⟶ 44:

* Security forces that transmit data to Earth observation satellites, aircraft and unmanned aerial observation vehicles, to reconfigure such systems in real time.

* Weather satellite services that require the fast delivery of large quantities of data around the world.

The system has been developed as part of the [[ARTES]] 7 programme and is intended to be an independent, European satellite system that reduces time delays in the transmission of large quantities of data. The programme is similar to the American [[Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System]] that was set up to support the Space Shuttle—but EDRS is using a new generation [[Laser communication in space|Laser Communication Terminal]] (LCT) which carries data at a much larger [[bit rate]]: the laser terminal transmits 1.8 Gbit/s across 45,000&nbsp;km (the distance of a LEO-GEO link),<ref name=VA249-2019/> while the TDRSS provides ground reception rates of 600 Mbit/s in the [[S-band]] and 800 Mbit/s in the [[Ku band|Ku-]] and [[Ka band|Ka-bands]].<ref name=ISS-comms-2019>{{Cite web|first=Matt |last=Williams |publisher=Universe Today |title=The ISS Now Has Better Internet Than Most of Us After Its Latest Upgrade |url=https://www.sciencealert.com/the-iss-now-has-better-internet-than-most-of-us-after-its-latest-upgrade|date=26 Aug 2019|access-date=2020-06-23|website=ScienceAlert|language=en-gb}}</ref>