New Era for ESA Redu
Ground Station
(15 June 2007) A new page is being turned in the history of the ESA Redu ground station with the award today of a contract for maintenance and operations services to Redu Space Services S.A.
Antennas at ESA's Redu ground station, which is located in the Ardennes region of Belgium. (courtesy: ESA)
The contract also foresees the possibility
for Redu Space Services to provide new commercial services from the ESA Redu
station, thereby enhancing the use of the ESA facilities and optimising the
resources in place for the common benefit of ESA and the operator.
Redu
Space Services S.A. is a joint venture between SES Astra TechCom Belgium S.A.
and Verhaert Design & Development N.V.
The new services contract has
been awarded in accordance with the appropriate ESA regulations. The tendering
process started in November 2006 with an Announcement of Opportunity which was
answered by several of the major European operators and services
companies
Giuseppe Viriglio, ESA's Director of Telecommunications and
Navigation Programmes points out: "This contract is a big opportunity to
enhance the utilisation of the Redu ground station by commercial users, thereby
increasing the economic value of this station for the region. ESA considers its
Redu site as a centre of excellence for telecommunications and navigation
satellite services. Our co-operation with the new operator will create
synergies and ensures a good future for the station and the staff working on
the station."
This new contract also marks the closure, on 1 July 2007,
of a 10-year contract for Vitrociset who have been supporting ESA at Redu for
25 years. ESA is thankful to Vitrociset and recognises not only a long and
professional involvement in the ground station but also its co-operation in
quickly ensuring the full take-over of the station personnel by Redu Space
Services.
Aerial view of ESA's Redu ground station, which is located in the Ardennes region of Belgium. (courtesy: ESA)
ESA's Redu station performs ground control
and in-orbit testing of satellites for ESA missions. Over almost 40 years of
activity, Redu has become essential to ESA and the European space sector as
part of the network of ESA tracking stations. Redu has been active in many
important programmes - for example, pioneering TV broadcasting such as the
Eutelsat and Astra telecommunications satellites.
The station also
receives and processes Earth images from the Belgian Proba spacecraft and
regularly works for ESA's Artemis data relay mission and the astrophysics space
observatory Integral.
Redu was involved in receiving the signals from
GIOVE-A, the first Galileo satellite and could later be part of the Galileo
ground network.
The station has many assets and is capable of
communicating not only with geostationary telecom satellites located above the
Atlantic and Indian oceans but also with a wide range of spacecraft engaged in
a variety of missions.
Redu is still expanding in order to develop and
promote applications serving society. The station's future will no longer
depend entirely on ESA programmes, but will also be assured by new commercial
opportunities.
(source: ESA)