ESACOM: The ESA Communications Network

S. Zatti et al.

The goal of the ESA Informatics Department with respect to communications is to provide the Agency with efficient and reliable networking services to meet the users’ evolving requirements at the best market conditions. It fulfils its mandate by offering a baseline for networking services targeted at the whole Agency, although networking support for spacecraft operations is not part of the Department’s responsibilities. The general-purpose network engineered and operated by the Department is called “ESACOM”. This article describes both the network and its basic service philosophy, as well as its potential role in a future ESA Corporate Highway.