ESA: Celebrating 10 years of Artemis -- Current Status

ESA’s pioneering Artemis satellite today marks a decade in space.

The Advanced Relay and Technology Mission was a breakthrough in telecommunications satellites for Europe, packed with new technologies such as laser links and ion thrusters for proving in space.

A launch problem on 12 July 2001 almost ended the mission before it even began, when the rocket’s upper stage injected Artemis into a low transfer orbit. For any conventional satellite, this would have resulted in the loss of the mission.

But thanks to the combination of the satellite’s advanced technologies and the unique recovery procedures devised by the control team, the satellite was slowly and carefully coaxed over 18 months into its intended operating position.

Dubbed ‘mission impossible’ at the time, and despite damaged onboard equipment, Artemis has demonstrated critical new technologies and continues in operation today.

Artemis clocked up a number of unique firsts in space during its recovery.

It created the first laser data link between satellites in different orbits; it was the first telecommunications satellite to be extensively reprogrammed in orbit; it was the first to use ion propulsion to reach geostationary orbit, 36 000 km up, after surviving the longest-ever drift to its destination.

Thanks to the laser relay, Earth images collected by ESA’s Envisat 35 000 km below Artemis were delivered to customers almost in real time at a high rate.

The same service was provided to France’s SPOT-4 observation satellite together with a second link via another experimental payload, this time at radio frequencies.