The European "space mirror"

Abstract  Low earth orbits are extremely practical because they are so close to the planet's surface: it is relatively easy to position a satellite there, satellites can see the surface very well and there is less signal power loss during data transfer. As a result, nearly all Earth observation satellites fly in low Earth orbits.

Unfortunately, there are other serious communications issues with satellites in such orbits. Looking from any given ground station, most low Earth orbit satellites are bellow the horizon for most of the time, making direct communication impossible. In crisis situations - floods, fires, earthquakes, violence outbreaks - prompt access to quality information about the situation on the ground can prevent lots of casualties, suffering and damages.

The European Space Agency and Airbus DS have decided to tackle this communication issue by placing intermediary satellites in geosynchronous orbit. Those satellites will be equipped with state of the art laser communication terminals which will allow them to communicate at extreme speeds over hard to fathom distances. Low Earth orbit satellites will send their data to them and they will forward it to ground stations, thus solving an array of issues.

Amphinicy Technologies has participated in the project for over 2 years, working on the monitor & control, simulation and billing modules of the the system's ground segment. The entire ground segment is based on GNU Linux, Oracle Java, JBoss AS and related technologies, placing Java once again at the very heart of extremely important and sensitive systems. We look forward to sharing our experiences of working on this project with you!.