14 DAY TRIAL // Experts listening for signals emitted by the newly-launched Metop-A satellite finally managed to complete the first data acquisition stage of the mission on January 19, 2011. The first transmissions from the spacecraft were picked up at the McMurdo Station, in Antarctica.
The satellite was launched by EUMETSAT (European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites). The group here collaborated with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in listening for the signals.
The American organization collaborated closely with NASA and the US National Science Foundation (NSF) for helping the Europeans out, seeing that the joint capabilities these three agencies have are of tremendous use for the type of mission they were asked to carry out.
Metop-A is a polar-orbiting meteorological spacecraft, that is the first of a larger series the EUMETSAT group is handling. The American agencies were asked to step in on this, and provide new data acquisition and transfer capabilities in addition to what the Europeans already had.
Another reason why the United States were involved in acquiring the data is that the country too will benefit from the wealth of meteorological data that the spacecraft will beam back to Earth.
The NSF coordinated the American part of the project, as the top authority in all things related to science and logistics support for science in Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and adjacent areas.
Agencies involved in this joint project estimate that the future Metop constellation will be capable of providing weather data at rates exceeding those today by as much as 200 percent.
This will partially happen because the satellites will be sending back data once every half orbit, rather than once every full orbit. The EUMETSAT Svalbard ground station in the Arctic will receive the first daily batch of data, while the McMurdo Station, at the South Pole, will receive the second.
The agencies involved in the project have been cooperating with each other on this programsince 2008. The acquisition of the actual Metop-A telemetry data represents the coronation of five years of non-stop work to make this spacecraft a reality, AlphaGalileo reports.
When the satellite will begin sending back data regularly, weather agencies around the world will receive batches of information once every 65 minutes, rather than once every 135 minutes.
Global operational weather forecasting and disaster monitoring will therefore be significantly improved, experts say, and this could literally help save lives.
“What a wonderful milestone! Perhaps an understatement, but, from a user perspective the enhancement this project offers after it goes into operation is significant!” says Initial Joint Polar-Orbiting Operational Satellite System (IJPS) project manager Phil Green.
The new success is “a major achievement, also bearing in mind that the communication link between McMurdo and Darmstadt is the most complex one we have ever had to deal with,” adds the EUMETSAT Director of Operations, Mikael Rattenborg.