NASA TDRS-K Spacecraft Ready for Launch

NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-K, enclosed in its payload fairing, passes through the Launch Complex 39 area at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 20, 2013 as it travels from the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., to its launch site.

TDRS-K will lift off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 on Jan. 30, 2013.

The TDRS-K spacecraft is part of the next-generation series in the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System, a constellation of space-based communication satellites providing tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services.

Image Credit: NASA/Glenn Benson

NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System: TDRS-K Video

As a vital information pipeline for space-based research and exploration ambitions, the TDRS constellation fulfills NASA's broadest communication demands.

Now into it's fourth operational decade, the TDRS legacy continues to be communications excellence.

The addition of the third generation of spacecraft will replenish the constellation and ensure that the critical lifeline of space-to-ground communication support will be available for many years to come.

This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: NASA TDRS-K Video

USAF Cape Canaveral: First Stage of Atlas V rocket

At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida, preparations are underway to erect the first stage of the Atlas V rocket that will carry the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-K, into orbit.

TDRS-K is the first of three next-generation communications satellites designed to ensure vital operational continuity for NASA.

The seven TDRS spacecraft currently in orbit provide tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services for numerous science and human exploration missions orbiting Earth.

These include NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station. TDRS-K has a high-performance solar panel designed for more spacecraft power to meet growing S-band communications requirements.

Image Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky

ESA DLR: EDRS space network ready to go ahead

The design of Europe’s data relay satellite system – EDRS - has been completed and approved.

This marks the moment when it moves ahead with a green light from its first customer, the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative from the European Union (GMES).

EDRS will provide a telecommunications network that is fast, reliable and seamless, making real-time information from satellites available on demand.

EDRS will be the first commercially operated data relay system to deliver services to the Earth observation community.

It is being built through a Public–Private Partnership (PPP) between ESA and Astrium Services, using payloads carried by two satellites in geostationary orbit, hovering 36 000 km above the Equator, where their speed matches Earth’s rotation.

Data transmitted from satellites in lower orbits to either of these EDRS payloads can then be relayed to the ground.

The payload includes a laser terminal developed by TESAT of Germany to transmit up to 1.8 gigabits per second over distances in excess of 40 000 km, between the lower satellites and EDRS in geostationary orbit.

A design review board of senior members from ESA, Astrium and the DLR German Aerospace Center approved the entire system design: from the satellites to the support that will be required from the ground.

The industrial organisation is fully in place with all subcontracts negotiated and ESA’s partner Astrium Services ready to begin production.

“EDRS is a fantastic breakthrough for Europe, from the innovative laser communication terminal technology, which is the heart of EDRS, to the provision of operational services by 2014 through a PPP that combines the best from European space companies with the national and European space institutions,” says Magali Vaissiere, director of ESA’s Telecommunications and Integrated Applications Directorate.

The first of the two EDRS payloads will be carried on the Eutelsat-EB9B satellite, starting operation in 2014, built by Astrium and positioned at 9°E over the Equator.

The second satellite, planned for launch in 2016, will carry the second EDRS payload as well as the Hylas-3 payload from the UK’s Avanti Communications. This satellite will be built by Germany’s OHB using the SmallGEO platform, currently under development by OHB under ESA contract.

ESA EDRS Satellite System makes room for Hylas-3

When the European Data Relay System launches its second satellite in 2015, it will be taking the Hylas-3 communications package along for the ride thanks to ESA’s ‘hosted payload’ approach.

EDRS is being built through a public–private partnership between ESA and Astrium Services, using payloads carried by two satellites in geostationary orbit, 36 000 km above the Equator.

Data transmitted from satellites in lower orbits to either of these EDRS nodes can then be relayed to the ground.

The first of the two EDRS nodes will be carried on the Eutelsat-9B satellite in late 2014, built by Astrium and positioned at 9°E over the Equator.

The second satellite carrying EDRS had room for another payload, so ESA offered it to industry in August last year.

Avanti Communications of the UK was selected, with the final agreement being signed on 10 July at the UK’s Farnborough International Airshow.

Through this arrangement, the cost of satellite resources and the launch are now shared. This contributes to the funding of the EDRS programme while providing access to space at a lower cost for the hosted payload.

Avanti and ESA previously worked together to launch the Hylas-1 satellite in 2010.

Providing European broadband coverage and TV distribution, Hylas-1 is the first European satellite specifically designed to provide interactive broadband services, as ESA’s first public–private partnership in a full satellite system.

Hylas-3 includes a steerable multibeam antenna to provide communications for institutional and international customers, and is completely independent of EDRS.

The EDRS payload includes a laser terminal developed by TESAT of Germany to transmit up to 1.8 gigabits per second over distances in excess of 40 000 km, between the lower satellites and EDRS in geostationary orbit.

Both EDRS and Hylas-3 will be flown on a satellite built by OHB of Germany using the Small GEO platform.

Through its ARTES telecommunications programme, ESA has supported a number of hosted payloads over the years.

ESA Data Relay Satellite System gets funding approval

After more than two years of negotiations, European Space Agency (ESA) governments have secured the full funding package to build a data-relay satellite system whose initial customer will be the European Commission’s Earth observation program, ESA’s director of telecommunications said Jan. 28.

In an interview, Magali Vaissiere said the agency’s Industrial Policy Committee, which clears funds for release, has approved 280 million euros ($380 million) for the European Data Relay Satellite (EDRS) system.

EDRS will include two laser-optical terminals, one installed as a hosted payload aboard a still-unselected commercial telecommunications satellite to be launched in 2013 or 2014, and one aboard a dedicated data-relay satellite to be ready for launch in 2014 or 2015.

Vaissiere said Germany, which has led the program since it was first proposed in November 2008, retains a 50 percent share of EDRS. Last-minute support from the Netherlands and Norway helped push EDRS over the financial hurdle that had prevented its go-ahead in the past two years.

Vaissiere said Astrium Services, which won the competition to operate the EDRS service as a profit-making business, is expected to invest about 100 million euros to round out the capital expenditure needed to build and launch the two payloads.

In return, Astrium Services will contract with the European Commission to provide EDRS service to relay data from the Sentinel series of Earth observation satellites being built as part of Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, or GMES, program.

The European Commission will be Astrium Services’ anchor tenant, but the company will be free to seek other customers as well. Vaissiere said “several million euros” in additional funds are expected to be found by hosting one or more payloads aboard the dedicated EDRS satellite, to be built by OHB Technology of Bremen, Germany.

It remains unclear when the European Commission, which has had trouble financing its existing GMES commitments, will be able to contract with Astrium Services. Vaissiere said that while the contract to build EDRS will be signed by March, the services contract is likely to take months longer to prepare given the budget cycle of the European Commission.

ESA: Conference on planned European Data Relay Satellite (EDRS)

More than a hundred senior managers and experts from European space industry, national agencies and ESA packed a Geneva conference room earlier this week to learn about the commercial opportunities offered by ESA's planned data relay satellite system.

The strong attendance from Europe and Canada's space community highlights the growing expectations by industry and potential customers for the planned European Data Relay Satellite (EDRS) system. Once in operation, EDRS will provide exceptionally high-speed data relay capabilities to other satellites, vastly improving services such as Earth imaging, disaster response and environmental monitoring.

"Europe is the only space power that lacks a data relay capability. The requirements for navigation, environmental monitoring and security need this ability, and there is solid interest in building this system," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA Director General, who spoke to the gathering via video.

The EDRS system will be developed as a so-called 'public-private partnership' (PPP), an innovative structure in which ESA leads the creation of the initial system and infrastructure that is later taken over for full exploitation and further development by a commercial partner. Hence the intense interest from space industry at this week's EDRS Workshop, organised by ESA's Telecoms directorate and co-sponsored by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and the Swiss Space office.

EDRS Workshop well attended by industry and organisations
The EDRS Workshop, 1-2 December, was well attended by experts from industry in numerous ESA Member States, Canada, national space agencies and government ministries, as well as the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat).

"Autonomous access to space for Europe not only means launchers - it also means communication. We would like to support EDRS fully and we hope other Member States will join us," said Prof. Dr Johann-Dietrich Worner, Chairman of the Executive Board of DLR, who also spoke to attendees by video.

EDRS will boost European-developed technology and make use of a cutting-edge inter-satellite laser communication system as well as new data dissemination infrastructure on the ground.

Magali Vaissiere, ESA Director of Telecommunications and Integrated Applications, explained that the Agency's Artemis relay satellite, launched in 2001 as a technology demonstrator, has already successfully completed thousands of optical communication links with satellites and aircraft.

"We have a significant background in Europe in this field and in particular at ESA. We believe that these communication means will become strategic features of many space missions in the future," she said.