Original subtitles

The International Space Station is, without question,

the jewel in the crown of low-Earth orbit.

Observation post, research lab, and classroom all in one.

But many other assets orbiting Earth

are even more important to our everyday lives...

delivering communications, weather observation,

global positioning and resource management.

And the list is growing every year.

Chances are you are watching this program via satellite

in one way or another,

either transmitted directly or indirectly

to your television, iPad, laptop or phone.

In other words, you're using technology once considered science fiction.

Pushing the envelope, technology must keep up with demand.

More data, more reliability and real time connection.

Space-destined hardware and technology are on the cutting edge of science,

often introducing new methods of gathering scientific information.

Demonstrator missions are regularly sent up,

flying new engineering solutions to prove the hardware in situ,

even without a specific goal in mind.

Technology goes through a whole development cycle

which we call the seamless train of innovation.

We start from the idea and we work along to develop it

through our work in the labs,

through the work of industry

and especially of small and medium industries,

which are the vectors of innovation,

but at the end, you need to prove that it works in the real place, space.

And in order to do that, we use missions

that can take the risk of flying unproven technology

and demonstrate to the larger missions that they work.

Research laboratories focusing on the next generation of space hardware

are dotted around the globe.

The UK's Space Gateway, Harwell Campus,

the ESA-RAL Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory supports cutting-edge research and development.

The purpose of the laboratory

is, basically, to assess and pre-screen candidate materials and processes

for future space missions.

So this will guide ESA as well as the space community

in focusing their technology investments in the right area.

The lab has extensive on-site testing facilities,

such as the ISIS Neutron Source, the Diamond Light Source synchrotron

and the UK's Central Laser Facility.

This year will bring the first launch of a satellite

using the SmallGEO platform, Hispasat 36W-1.

SmallGEO, a telecommunications platform

accommodating a wide range of payloads and missions,

has been developed in Germany in a public-private partnership

between ESA, OHB and the operator Hispasat.

It’s indeed because Hispasat and ESA were able to join forces

that we were able to develop a satellite with such a level of innovation.

On the one hand, a new platform with a new satellite prime contractor.

On the other hand, a payload embarking, also, a high level of innovation.

And, all together, this satellite has been developed.

It's going to be flown and will provide very innovative services.

So, end to end, the level of innovation is very high

and, indeed, separately neither Hispasat nor ESA

would have been able to undertake such a complex development.

With a SmallGEO, what we have tried to achieve was, really,

to develop a new product in the low end of the telecommunication market

and, at the same time, this new product would allow a new prime contractor

to become a prominent player of the satellite telecommunication market.

That's the OHB, which is the prime contractor of this satellite.

This is a class of satellite that only have electric propulsion on board,

which is a highly efficient system that allows achieving important mass savings.

So, we are able to put in space a satellite

with a similar capacity of a full chemical one,

but with much lower mass,

which means less launcher cost and compatibility with more launch vehicles.

And, again, this translates into advantages for the operators

who have at their disposal,

more efficient technical solutions for the mission.

But is a very flexible,

so it can also be used for other geo stationary application.

Another scheduled event in the telecom area

is the launch of EDRS-C. Expected by the end of the year.

EDRS-C is also based on the SmallGEO platform

and will be the first dedicated satellite for EDRS, the European Data Relay Service.

It will be the second element of the laser relay "space data highway".

Low earth satellites encumbered with line of sight communications

can beam their data upward to geosynchronous satellites via laser,

which can then transmit the signal to ground stations at any time.

The SmallGEO program is just the first step for OHB.

OHB has already sold a number of other telecommunication satellites

and, indeed, this is the start of a product line

that will evolve over time like any other product lines

of the other prime contractors operating in the satellite telecom market.

Another area of research has been in cost and time effectiveness

in developing satellites.

This has led to the CubeSat, several of which have flown in space.

Measuring just 10 by 10 by 10 centimeters, these small cubes, or nano-satellites,

have become extremely popular,

opening up new possibilities

for a wide range of groups previously unable to access space.

We are a small group of students with two professors and two coordinators

and we have 52 students who did their master's thesis on this project.

It is a great project for the students because it's the occasion

to apply practical stuff.

And not only the theoretical stuff they have learned at school.

Our satellite is a telecommunications satellite.

We use the D-STAR protocol for the radio amateurs to communicate around the world.

This is really a special moment when we can see that, finally,

the P-POD is installed on the platform that will carry it to space

on board the Soyuz launcher.

So it's a great feeling to be here in Kourou in French Guiana

with the satellites almost in space and, nominally, ready to work.

Using off-the-shelf technology,

CubeSats have been launched from the ISS

and piggybacked onto other satellite launches.

They will soon be deployed to Mars, asteroids and further afield.

GPS is used every day by people on the ground,

thanks to global positioning satellites from the United States.

But GPS it is not the only system in orbit.

Russia has the GLONASS constellation,

China have their own BeiDou system

and Europe is building the Galileo Network.

The initial services is a stage in the program

whereby there is sufficient infrastructure is made available in space,

satellites around the globe, who circle around.

Plus infrastructure on the ground

which control the satellites, provides the navigation signals.

Enough of that infrastructure is ready so that the systems can be used.

The use is still not fully hundred percent,

hence the word "initial" services.

These constellations are not exclusive.

Galileo will also use the GPS system for even more accuracy

and the U.S. is tying in with the Russian GLONASS

for extra-terrestrial services.

In other words, they will enable spacecraft

to utilize the positioning system in almost any orbit around the Earth.

Some of the signals

are available only during a certain percentage of the day

the satellites move around and not all of the day

you have sufficient satellites in sight.

But there is enough to start,

and this is a very important moment in the program,

an excessively important moment, because this actually shows to the world

that the system is really going well,

the performance we actually can provide we know is excellent

and, of course, we will continue building out the full constellation,

but the users can actually now start using the satellite system.

The European Galileo navigation system is nearing completion.

More satellites will be launched this year,

adding to a constellation which will eventually number 22.

Under initial services there will be three services provided.

One is the so-called open service.

This is for the mass market.

This is where people will use their smart phones,

their navigation devices in cars

which will have Galileo-enabled chips inside

which will receive both Galileo and GPS in combination.

And it is the combination of the two systems

which will be used to determine the position of the user.

Before ESA and the European Commission when we started with satellite navigation

it was, of course, not quite clear

how really important satellite navigation was going to be.

And we had studies, we had our insights in it,

and we knew that it would be important,

but now we really see how important it is,

particularly looking in the future where we're gonna have...

we're gonna need to have

a sufficiently developed satellite navigation infrastructure

to support autonomous driving and all sorts of other applications.

NASA has already developed specialized GPS receivers

for space application.

The Navigator Receiver from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

first flew in 2009 and proved to be very successful.

A number of future missions in HEO, GEO and MEO

plan to work with this receiver,

using its high sensitivity signal acquisition and tracking capabilities.

NASA's JPL has also developed the BlackJack flight GPS,

now being flown aboard an Argentine satellite

the system looks at how the GPS radio signal is distorted or delayed

along its path.

A typical GPS signal can plot a position to within around 22 yards.

BlackJack can pinpoint its host satellite continuously

to an accuracy of about one inch.

Eighteen receivers are on orbit,

while another system under development, called the Triple GNSS, or Tri-G,

will be able to track GPS and GNSS signals

including the Russian GNSS and European Galileo navigation constellations.

All of our spacefaring nations continue their Earth observation work

in collaboration with a number of organizations.

The refinement of orbital positioning and unhindered high speed communications

mean more new technologies craft

are being added to the armada of observation satellites.

They include Europe's Copernicus Programme

with no fewer than three Sentinel satellite launches.

In March, Sentinel-2B will be launched

carrying a wide-swath, high-definition multispectral imager.

With Sentinel-2A already on orbit,

both Sentinel-2 satellites will monitor land cover, vegetation

and water pollution.

Now that we get Sentinel-2B to fly together with Sentinel-2A

there's a couple of improvements that we get.

So far, we have a revisit of ten days with Sentinal-2B

we will have a revisit of five days,

that means we see every spot on the Earth every five days.

That will help, of course, also, to avoid the clouds,

or to have the chances higher to have no clouds,

in the various regions of the world.

Both together Sentinal-2A and 2B

will also improve the performance of the services that are using the data.

Sentinel-2B is contributing to a constellation of Sentinel satellites

which really provides data over decades in different domains

and with different instruments onboard.

So, therefore, we're building up a fully operational system

which is enough incentive for industry

to invest and to rely on this information in the future.

Sentinel-2A is already supporting a lot of applications.

They are ranging from, for example, agricultural applications

where we can do yield forecast,

to forest monitoring where we, for example, see deforestation.

And besides that, there is plenty of other applications

like inland water where we can look at the quality of the water.

We can support river monitoring,

but also coastal areas where we look at changes in the coastal regions.

On top of that, we recently changed, also, to acquire the Antarctic regions,

where we are, also, now looking at ice and glaciers.

Later in the year two more Sentinels,

Sentinel-5P and Sentinel-3B, will follow.

The Sentinel-5 Precursor mission

is a satellite dedicated to monitoring our atmosphere

at a high temporal and spectral resolution.

It also offers increased cloud-free observation.

The second satellite, which is a replica of the first one,

is, of course, shorter to develop and to test.

The main thought when we developed a new system,

is put on the first spacecraft

where you discover, basically, all the early problems in equipment production

software validation, integration and test.

All the specifications, plans, test procedures are ready

whenever you start building the second spacecraft

is, of course, a large benefit.

The second spacecraft, let's say, was realized in one and half year time.

The cost, of course, of a recurring spacecraft

is much cheaper than protoflight spacecraft.

You could say, basically, is 50% of the price of the first one.

Sentinel-3B is a multi-instrument mission

to measure sea-surface topography,

sea and land-surface temperature and ocean and land color.

We are addressing a number of issues that relate to the development of new science

but also operation missions.

For example, the Earth Explorer missions,

the scientific missions, but also we are preparing the next generation

of Sentinel missions for Copernicus.

In the next five to ten years in Earth observation,

we will face a number of challenges, some of them coming from outside.

Dictator, constellations,

commercial companies entering our domain.

And I think there we really have to see, as ESA, as European Space Agency,

a public institution, how we can best react to these external challenges

and position ourselves with our programs

to really address these challenges from our perspective.

Demonstrating new laser technology,

ESA is launching the ADM-Aeolus satellite.

ADM stands for Atmospheric Dynamics Mission.

It will provide global observation of wind profiles.

With this mission, ESA hopes to further our knowledge

of the Earth’s atmosphere and weather systems.

Space is a hazardous place.

A key part of maintaining reliable satellite services

is keeping a weather eye out.

The Earth is constantly being bombarded by damaging solar storms

and charged particles ejected from the Sun.

This could knock out satellites

and even communications systems and power grids on the ground.

Geomagnetic storms,

solar x-ray and proton flux,

coronal mass ejections,

and sunspots...

all are monitored continuously.

The Earth is also surrounded by a cloud of debris

from sixty years of human space activities.

Space junk which could also damage satellites.

Near-Earth objects also threaten the Earth and could collide with our planet.

All these threats are monitored

under ESA’s Space Situational Awareness program,

which the Operations Directorate hopes to see continuing to evolve.

We want to protect our assets in orbit and on Earth

against impacts from space.

Maybe from space weather or risks from near-Earth objects

and we also want to protect our spacecraft in orbit

from risks, for example, coming from space debris.

The Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee, or IADC,

is a forum of 14 nations brought together to exchange information

and to research various aspects of this problem.

Numerous working groups are studying methods of protection

and threat mitigation.

No matter what hardware is orbiting Earth it can only make scientific observations.

Only our human perception of the beauty that lies below

can help us fully appreciate the planet we call home.