KSAT’s Svalbard ground station facility. Photo: KSAT

[Via Satellite 06-24-2015] Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) is now downloading data from its newly installed ground station in the Norwegian peninsula of Svalbard, which will maximize contact with the company’s polar-orbiting satellites. The Svalbard ground station, uniquely located close to the North Pole, will enable satellite contact every 90 minutes — up to 14 passes a day.
SSTL installed one of its ground station mini racks at Svalbard through an agreement with the facility’s owner Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT). Now operational, the ground system is completed by a high-speed data link between Svalbard and the SSTL Satellite Operations Center (SOC) in Guildford, United Kingdom.

“With four new satellites to be launched next month, the increased contact time provided by the high latitude location will allow us to spread the loading efficiently across the ground stations. This will reduce commissioning times and enable us to bring these new missions into service quickly, which will benefit our customers,” said James Northam, head of ground systems and missions services at SSTL.