As ESA celebrates the 100th launch of Ariane 5, the Agency’s worldwide ground station network is also marking ten years of providing vital tracking services to launchers soaring out of Kourou.
ESA’s Earth-orbiting satellites and probes out in the Solar System are ultimately dependent on a small network of ground antennas, keeping them connected to their home planet. For ten years, this network has also been doing the same job for Europe’s high-flying launchers.
“ESA’s ventures into space have sent back vast quantities of scientifically vital data and beautiful images from our Solar System, yet without this little-known network, most of these incredible insights would never have reached Earth.” explains Gerhard Billig, responsible for managing发射器tracking support at ESA’s operations centre in Germany (ESOC).
这个全球地面站系统名为Estrack，在轨道上提供了卫星与控制它们的团队的卫星之间的联系，当然，分析其数据的科学家。
The core Estrack network comprises seven stations in seven countries on three continents, all are centrally controlled from the Agency’s operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
十年的发射器跟踪
截至2017年截至2017年，显示ESA跟踪（Estrack）站的位置。请注意，此地图仅表示，并非所有位置都完全准确地显示。Blue表示位于德国达姆施塔特ESA欧洲航天中心（ESOC）的Estrack Network Operations Center（NOC）运营的核心ESA拥有的电台。Orange表示增强的Estrack站，商业购买并由商业实体代表ESA运营。Green表示由外部机构拥有和运营的合作Estrack站，但定期为ESA任务提供服务。澳大利亚珀斯的ESA跟踪站于2015年12月从服务退休。Villafranca和西班牙Maspalomas的ESA车站于2017年转移到工业。（图片来源：欧洲航天局）
In addition to catching signals from satellites almost anywhere, 2018 marks ten years since Estrack stations began tracking the launch vehicles that deliver these satellites into orbit, starting in March 2008, with the Ariane 5 rocket that carried the ATV-1 cargo vessel, Jules Verne.
Initially established to communicate solely with satellites, Estrack was expanded to support their rockets in 2008 with the establishment of aground station和葡萄牙亚速尔群岛群岛圣玛丽亚岛上的5.5 M直径天线。Santa Maria是具有跟踪发射器的第一个具有跟踪发射器的狂热站，为ESA提供了独立的手段，即通过其航班的所有阶段从发射器接收信息。
Santa Maria joined Estrack at the same time that the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-series of missions got underway; the five ATVs were a series of expendable spacecraft developed by ESA to carry supplies to the International Space Station, at about 400 km altitude.
这些任务的特殊Ariane发射轨迹需要大西洋中部的专用车站。出于同样的原因，该站继续用于伽利略卫星的所有发布，帮助Orbit Europe的新导航系统。
In contrast, the original Ariane launcher tracking station network—operated by the French space agency CNES from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou—is tailored for a different launcher trajectory followed by most launches from Kourou. These deliver telecom satellites into geostationary orbit at 36 000 km.
ESA的Santa Maria地面站位于葡萄牙中大西洋亚速尔群岛的圣玛丽亚岛的“蒙特斯·达斯·弗洛雷斯（Montes Das Flores）”（蒙特斯·达斯·弗洛雷斯（Montes Das Flores））上。它包括一个伽利略传感器站。（图片来源：欧洲航天局）
圣玛丽亚（Santa Maria）追踪了从欧洲太空港（Spaceport）运营的所有发射车：包括三种改变世界的发射车，Ariane 5，Soyuz和Vega。
Estrack stations provide teams on site with vital information acquired from the launchers soaring overhead, which is then passed on to the CNES and Arianespace teams who control their flights.
当时在圣玛丽亚车站的格哈德说：“ 2011年的ATV-2是一个特别令人难忘的发射。”
“Just minutes after liftoff from Kourou, while the Ariane rocket was in radio contact with our station, we could see it whizzing high over our heads in the clear night-time sky.”
“实际上，我们可以燃烧上层推进器！看到地平线上的火箭速度，就像横穿天空一样，真是太神奇了。我们在视觉上看到的是通过现场遥测链接在我们的屏幕上确认。”
迄今为止，葡萄牙和西澳大利亚州的Estrack站支持了35次发布，其中许多人受到一个以上的地面站进行监控。圣玛丽亚（Santa Maria）获得了16次发射，西澳大利亚州有34名（来自珀斯的20名，新诺西亚的14个）。
升级下方
In 2010, the existing New Norcia antenna in Perth, Western Australia, was upgraded for launcher tracking.
It was used for tracking not only ATV and Galileo launches but also rockets delivering satellites to ‘Sun-synchronous orbits’ and onto interplanetary trajectories.
“For a decade now, tracking services for both the launcher and the satellite are provided, a unique and important capability during the first, critical moments of a卫星``的使命，''格哈德说。
Since the closure of Perth station in 2016, its launcher tracking capability has been transferred to ESA’s deep space station at New Norcia, also in Western Australia.
100th Ariane 5 launch
On 25 September 2018, another important milestone was reached for the Agency, as the 100th Ariane 5 rocket was launched into space. To mark this milestone 100th Ariane 5 flight, ESA is releasing 100 limited-edition t-shirts via the ESAshop.
From 26–30 September all ESAshop t-shirts are being sold at a 15% discount with the code “ARIANE5”.
Filed Under:航空航天 +防御
