Carrying three payloads plus a number of experiments, Artemis (Advanced Relay and Technology Mission Satellite) has been designed to test and operate new telecommunications techniques.
The L-band mobile payload allows two-way voice and data communications, via satellite, between fixed Earth stations and land mobiles - trucks, trains or cars - anywhere in Europe and North Africa.
Artemis carries two payloads for communications directly between satellites, which receive data from low-Earth-orbiting satellites and transmit them directly to Europe:
-a laser-optical relay terminal called SILEX
-a double S/Ka-band terminal called SKDR.
ARTEMIS was launched 12 July 2001 by Ariane 5.