The space assets orbiting around the Earth are controlled from mission control centres. The flight controllers and system experts continuously monitor the vitals of the satellite. The satellite instrumentation systems collect all the system parameter measurements and send to Earth in the form of telemetry information. Telemetry, Tracking and Commanding (TT & C) ground stations receive these telemetry signals and deliver them to the mission control centres. These stations are the single point contacts for any kind of communication between the satellite and the control room
As the satellites keep orbiting around the Earth, they will be moving across different parts of the globe at different times. A network of ground stations located across the globe are essential to ensure periodic contact with the satellites as required. For a typical Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellite, there could be a contact duration of about 10 to 15 minutes within which the mission control team should do all that they require to do. If there are more things to do, the need to keep switching to successive ground stations over which the satellites are passing.
Apart from telemetry reception, these stations also form the essential link sending the instructions and programs to the satellite in the form of telecommands. Another important role of these stations is to generating tracking measurements from the satellite that are required for determining, predicting and correcting, if necessary, the motion of the satellite in space.
The antenna systems and heavy duty drive systems that make those antennas to point towards the direction of the satellites passing over the sky are the primary elements of these stations. They also constitute baseband and radio frequency signal handling equipments including high power and low power systems as well as analog and digital electronic systems.
SpaceTech Orbital’s Ground Station team have immersive experience in designing and establishing numerous such TT & C stations from scratch. The team also has expertise in managing, maintaining and operating such stations. Our experienced team can help Satellite constellation owners and space based service providers in establishing complete ground station systems for their exclusive use. Further maintenance and operations of the stations also can be taken over by our team.
