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Contents Weather from spaceKnow where you areBetter telecommunicationsSatellite links for allLearning from a satelliteMedical linksSpin-off technologyServices Subscribe
|  | | | | | | Improving daily life
An eye in the sky above Africa sends graphic images of rain and windstorms heading our way. Television news from remote trouble spots is beamed around the world by satellites. Truck drivers and yachtsmen have joined the supertanker captains as users of satellite navigation. Such applications of satellites have already become so familiar that we take them for granted. There are many more to come, as ESA aims to ensure that Europe’s citizens have access to all benefits from space, in their everyday lives. Apart from direct services, spin-off from space technology finds ever more applications on the ground.
| | Meteosat-4 Earth image | |
Weather from space
One of ESA’s earliest actions in the 1970s was to complete the development of Meteosat, the weather satellite stationed over West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea that transmits images every half-hour for forecasters in Europe, Africa and the Americas. ESA ran the service on its own initiative for many years until responsibility passed to Eumetsat, a 17-nation consortium. On behalf of Eumetsat, ESA has now developed Meteosat Second Generation (MSG, 2002) and MetOp (2006)- a satellite orbiting over the poles and performing meteorological services previously dependent on the USA. Expect better weather forecasts!
| | | Galileo system |
Know where you are
Imagine a world where you’re never lost, never miss your turn-off when driving, never lose track of a consignment in transit, and never misdirect the rescue services in an emergency. Thanks to navigation satellites, that world is within reach. But existing military systems, American and Russian, are degraded for civilian use in times of tension. That is unacceptable where safety counts, notably in air traffic control. ESA is, therefore, creating Europe’s own civilian navigation system called Galileo with 30 satellites. Meanwhile, an 'overlay' service will use other satellites and ground stations to make the US and Russian systems more accurate and reliable. Expect fewer travel delays!
| | Artemis | |
Better telecommunications
The sky over the Equator is crowded with geostationary satellites, orbiting in step with the Earth’s rotation and busily relaying voices, messages, and TV programmes. Many were built in Europe, thanks largely to examples set by ESA’s pioneering communications satellites: OTS (1978), MARECS (1981), ECS (1983) and Olympus (1989). The present European-Japanese project Artemis (2001) keeps ahead of the fast-moving technology by demonstrating affordable communications for users on the move, and a direct laser link between satellites over different parts of the Earth. Further innovations will be tried on other people’s satellites. Expect world-class satcom systems at your service!
Satellite links for all
Popular music can be distributed on the Internet, but downloading is a hundred times faster via a satellite link. This has been demonstrated by the UK-based Abaris company, with ESA sponsorship. The telecommunications programme stimulates the use of satellites for multimedia e-commerce. Mobile links are another theme, and for two decades Europe has provided satellites for the Inmarsat organization, communicating with ships scattered across the oceans. Professional users, such as TV and oil companies, tuned into Inmarsat. Advances in satellite technology (e.g. with ESA’s Artemis, 2001) open the door wider. Expect more satellite terminals on cars, trucks, trains and boats!
| | Learning by satellite | |
Learning from a satellite
If you’re a circus clown or a barge skipper, always on the move, a system called Trapeze may help your children’s schooling. Sponsored by ESA and based in Belgium, Trapeze demonstrates two-way exchanges with a tutor via a satellite, taking advantage of new technology that allows even mobile users to transmit large volumes of text, data, video, audio or graphics. Similar technology underpins a fully interactive 'telematic' university course, from the University of Lecce, Italy, as conceived in the ESA-sponsored Modus experiment. In British schools a project called Espresso has used a satellite to feed classroom computers with timely curriculum material. Expect satellite-wise youngsters!
| | | Telemedicine |
Medical links
A simulated patient in Bristol, UK, trains anaesthetists remotely via MultiMED - an interactive TV and computer service carried by satellite. A multi-lingual satellite TV service called EMN, operated from Switzerland, provides continuing medical education for doctors in five countries. Euromednet, based in Italy, enables physicians in remote areas to use satellite links for video-conferencing, sharing of patient records, Internet access and video broadcasting. For ambulances in areas such as rural Wales where cellular phone services are poor, SECoM fills in the gaps with a satellite. All of these pilot projects have been sponsored by ESA. Expect satellite-proficient doctors and nurses!
| | Stay cool, like our astronauts! | |
Spin-off technology
Motor bikers who sweat in protective leathers, or bakers at their ovens, may welcome electrically cooled underwear developed by a Spanish company from the space suits of ESA’s astronauts. ESA and its industrial contractors actively promote technology transfer from space to the ground. To reduce vibration in newly designed cars, a German firm markets software first used for ESA’s Columbus Laboratory on the International Space Station. A biomedical camera company in the UK has a new way to spot cancer cells using a superconducting detector developed by ESA’s space scientists. We can expect many more spin-offs like these!
Last update: 25 October 2006 | |
| | Related links EUMETSATMSG (Meteosat Second Generation)Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU)ESA TelecommunicationTrapeze (mobile learning)Espresso (for schools)EuromednetSpace underwear
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