Copernical Team
O3b Networks
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O3b Networks, Ltd. is a satellite operator focused on delivering a worldwide broadband network.
O3b Networks delivers broadband connectivity everywhere on earth within 45 degrees of latitude north and south of the equator. The vast coverage area includes emerging and insufficiently connected markets in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, with a collective population of over 3 billion people.
For this aim, O3b is building a medium Earth orbit satellite constellation, the O3B constellation. The network will combine the ubiquitous reach of satellite with the speed of fiber to deliver satellite Internet services and mobile backhaul services to emerging markets. By the first half of 2013 O3b plans to launch a constellation of 8 satellites into orbit to provide low latency Internet services to billions of users in remote areas of the world.
The name "O3b" stands for "[The] Other 3 Billion", referring to the population of the world where broadband Internet is not available without help.
ASTRON
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ASTRON is the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy.
ASTRON's programme has three principal elements:
- The operation of front line observing facilities, including especially the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope and LOFAR,
- The pursuit of fundamental astronomical research using ASTRON facilities, together with a broad range of other telescopes around the world and space-borne instruments (e.g. Sptizer, HST etc.)
- A strong technology development programme, encompassing both innovative instrumentation for existing telescopes and the new technologies needed for future facilities.
In addition, ASTRON is active in the international science policy arena and is one of the leaders in the international SKA project. The Square Kilometre Array will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope with a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre. The SKA will be built in Southern Africa and in Australia. It is a global enterprise bringing together 11 countries from the 5 continents.
ASTRON is part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
SKA project
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The Square Kilometre Array (SKA project) is a multi-purpose radio telescope that will play a major role in answering key questions in modern astrophysics and cosmology.
It will be one of a small number of cornerstone observatories around the world that will provide astrophysicists and cosmologists with a transformational view of the Universe. It will allow investigating galaxy evolution, cosmology and dark energy.
The Square Kilometre Array will provide a million square metres of collecting area. This huge increase in scale demands a revolutionary break from traditional radio telescope design.
The Square Kilometre Array will be the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope.
Thousands of linked radio wave receptors will be located in Australia and in Southern Africa. Combining the signals from the antennas in each region will create a telescope with a collecting area equivalent to a dish with an area of about one square kilometre.
The SKA will address fundamental unanswered questions about our Universe including how the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang, how galaxies have evolved since then, the role of magnetism in the cosmos, the nature of gravity, and the search for life beyond Earth.
The Square Kilometre Array is a global science and engineering project led by the SKA Organisation, a not-for-profit company with its headquarters at Jodrell Bank Observatory, near Manchester, UK.
An array of dish receptors will extend into eight African countries from a central core region in the Karoo desert of South Africa. A further array of mid frequency aperture arrays will also be built in the Karoo. A smaller array of dish receptors and an array of low frequency aperture arrays will be located in the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia.
- The SKA will be so sensitive that it will be able to detect an airport radar on a planet 50 light years away.
- The SKA central computer will have the processing power of about one hundred million PCs.
SKA Organisation
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The SKA Organisation is the legal entity created to design, develop and operate the the Square Kilometre Array (SKA project).
Since 2008, the global radio astronomy community has been engaged in the development of the SKA as a major part of the 'Preparatory' phase of the project. The Preparatory phase ended in December 2011 and, following a number of major changes, the international SKA project has now progressed to the 'Pre-Construction' phase (2012-15) with the establishment of a new legal entity, the SKA Organisation, on 14 December 2011. The SKA Organisation will be based in the Alan Turing Building, The University of Manchester until October 2012, at which time it will move to a purpose-built building at Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, UK.
Space Research & Planetary Sciences - University of Bern
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The Space Research & Planetary Sciences division, at the University of Bern, is a Swiss research centre.
Its research program concentrates on topics related to the history, origin and early evolution of planetary systems. By means of in situ measurements, remote sensing observations, laboratory analysis, and numerical modeling, we investigate our own solar system with its small bodies (comets and asteroids), its planets and their atmospheres as well as the newly discovered extra-solar planets to unravel the physical processes underlying the formation and evolution of these systems. These investigations also include the past and present interaction of the Sun with magnetospheres and atmospheres with the Earth and with comets.
Japan Space Imaging Corp.
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Japan Space Imaging Corporation is a provider of satellite imagery.
JSI is a regional affiliate of GeoEye.
Space Imaging Middle East
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Space Imaging Middle East LLC (SIME) is a provider of satellite imagery for Earth observation. SIME offers a wide spectrum of products & services ranging from imagery collection & processing, to highly customized GIS database & software solutions.
SIME offers imagery collected from various earth observation satellites and aerial sensors, with resolutions varying from 15 centimeters to 20 meters. SIME's satellite constellation includes the Indian Remote Sensing satellite (IRS), IKONOS and CARTOSAT satellites. SIME controls its satellite constellation via a ground station based in the UAE. The Company also has an aircraft permanently stationed in the region to collect aerial imagery.
SIME is a regional affiliate of GeoEye.
Danish Aerospace Company
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Danish Aerospace Company (DAC) is a high-tech company operating in the area of advanced medical instrumentation and other engineering fields primarily within space applications.
The hardware from DAC has flown on the majority of todays (May 2013) manned and unmanned space transportation vehicles. This includes flights on:
- All US Space Shuttles (Now retired)
- Soyuz capsules from Russia (manned)
- Russian Progress vehicles (unmanned)
- European ATV-transport vehicles (unmanned)
- HTV-transport vehicles from Japan (unmanned)
OICETS satellite
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OICETS, the Optical Inter-Orbit Communications Engineering Test Satellite (other name Kirari) is an experimental satellite by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to demonstrate interorbital communication between satellites through optical (laser) means.
In order to be able to perform the tests during the lifetime of the European Artemis satellite, OICETS was successfully launched on a Dnepr launcher.
Operation finished by September 24, 2009.
Swiss Propulsion Laboratory
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The Swiss Propulsion Laboratory (SPL), founded in autumn 1998, is running integrated programs focusing on research and development of space-technology in Switzerland.
Objectives and Strategies
SPL aims to develop, build and run reasonable priced systems to transport small payloads into a low-earth orbit (LEO). Old and established paths are intentionally renounced in order to envisage new and innovative concepts covering impacts on our environment as much as possible.
Involving external facilities and inviting other organizations to participate allows SPL to achieve its objectives. The components will be developed in a joint effort of SPL, interested universities, graduate schools and Switzerland precision industry. SPL will provide the required co-ordination of all involved parties, for example by extracting and forwarding precisely defined technical problems to educational institutions, thereby enabling them to effectively take part in space-technology oriented "applied science".