| 2007-01-25 | To bloggers |
Remotely Operated Network Station in Russia is RADARSAT-1 Operational
UniScan station in Magadan
Radar image of the Staritsky peninsular in the Sea of Okhotsk with the Bay of Nagaev. RADARSAT-1 image, acquired during the certification in December 2006 and processed in Moscow.(© CSA 2006. Received and processed by ScanEx. Distributed under licence from MDA Geospatial Services Inc.)
RADARSAT-1 image fragment with Magadan city on the Staritsky peninsular and the Bay of Nagaev, December 2006 (© CSA 2006. Received and processed by ScanEx. Distributed under licence from MDA Geospatial Services Inc.)
On January 15, 2007, the Russian UniScan network station in Magadan was awarded RADARSAT-1 Station Operations Certification by MDA Geospatial Services Inc. and the Canadian Space Agency. The Magadan station is operated remotely from the Moscow Archiving and Reception Center (MARC) using Firmware software developed at the ScanEx Center. Magadan and MARC are separated by over 9000km.
The addition of this second Russian network station increases the global network of RADARSAT-1 receiving stations to 35. This year ScanEx R&D Center, along with MDA Geospatial Services Inc. and the Canadian Space Agency, is scheduled to certify several more Russian network stations for RADARSAT-1 data reception.
The Magadan station is ScanEx’s first remotely controlled data reception station and is now being introduced in other countries. According to MDA Geospatial Services Inc., the Russian Magadan station is the second certified station in the international network of RADARSAT-1 data reception stations to be controlled remotely.
An intensive testing period took place between December 16th and 29th, 2006, where 44 satellite passes were scheduled for Magadan – 114 data segments in total were received with no data losses. The RADARSAT-1 data products generated at Magadan were then transferred to Canada for image quality analysis. Stephen Cote, Quality Assurance Manager of the CSA, confirmed that all data products met the strict data quality requirements.
“As with all 3 previous ScanEx RADARSAT-1 network stations, the Magadan station achieved an impressive 100% success rate during the final Operational Evaluation (OpEval) phase in terms of telemetry reception, reporting and archiving reliability,” said Jay Timmerman, Project Manager for MDA Geospatial Services Inc.
CSA Mission Planner Ron Pietsch commented, “The Magadan ground station was certified ahead of schedule as we were able to capitalize on our past working experience with the ScanEx team during the Moscow Network Station certification. In addition, the professionalism and high degree of technical capability made it a pleasure to work with such an efficient group.“
Currently, the visibility masks of the Magadan and Moscow stations cover 2/3 of Russia’s landmass and EEZ allowing the stations to provide near-real time delivery of data to operational users requiring time-sensitive information. One of the hallmarks of the RADARSAT-1 program is the ability to process and deliver data within 1 - 4 hours after downlink to a network station.
According to ScanEx General Director Vladimir Gershenzon, the certification of the automated Magadan station signals the potential to introduce similar stations throughout Russia. This type of station could simplify and reduce the data access costs in remote areas. The strategic geographic placement of the stations would make it possible to have complete RADARSAT-1 coverage of Russia. This data is used to monitor ice conditions for ship navigation and to monitor areas of intensive oil exploration and production for potential oil spills (eg. the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sakhalin waters).
The addition of this second Russian network station increases the global network of RADARSAT-1 receiving stations to 35. This year ScanEx R&D Center, along with MDA Geospatial Services Inc. and the Canadian Space Agency, is scheduled to certify several more Russian network stations for RADARSAT-1 data reception.
The Magadan station is ScanEx’s first remotely controlled data reception station and is now being introduced in other countries. According to MDA Geospatial Services Inc., the Russian Magadan station is the second certified station in the international network of RADARSAT-1 data reception stations to be controlled remotely.
An intensive testing period took place between December 16th and 29th, 2006, where 44 satellite passes were scheduled for Magadan – 114 data segments in total were received with no data losses. The RADARSAT-1 data products generated at Magadan were then transferred to Canada for image quality analysis. Stephen Cote, Quality Assurance Manager of the CSA, confirmed that all data products met the strict data quality requirements.
“As with all 3 previous ScanEx RADARSAT-1 network stations, the Magadan station achieved an impressive 100% success rate during the final Operational Evaluation (OpEval) phase in terms of telemetry reception, reporting and archiving reliability,” said Jay Timmerman, Project Manager for MDA Geospatial Services Inc.
CSA Mission Planner Ron Pietsch commented, “The Magadan ground station was certified ahead of schedule as we were able to capitalize on our past working experience with the ScanEx team during the Moscow Network Station certification. In addition, the professionalism and high degree of technical capability made it a pleasure to work with such an efficient group.“
Currently, the visibility masks of the Magadan and Moscow stations cover 2/3 of Russia’s landmass and EEZ allowing the stations to provide near-real time delivery of data to operational users requiring time-sensitive information. One of the hallmarks of the RADARSAT-1 program is the ability to process and deliver data within 1 - 4 hours after downlink to a network station.
According to ScanEx General Director Vladimir Gershenzon, the certification of the automated Magadan station signals the potential to introduce similar stations throughout Russia. This type of station could simplify and reduce the data access costs in remote areas. The strategic geographic placement of the stations would make it possible to have complete RADARSAT-1 coverage of Russia. This data is used to monitor ice conditions for ship navigation and to monitor areas of intensive oil exploration and production for potential oil spills (eg. the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sakhalin waters).
