Intelsat General + Paradigm — A Cold Package

Intelsat General Corp. and Paradigm Secure Communications, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Astrium, have teamed to develop broadband satellite service to the United States Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. The contract is with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center of Charleston, SC, for the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs, which operates the South Pole facility. Recently, engineers successfully completed testing of a satellite connection between the Oakhanger ground station southwest of London and the South Pole station using a small fly-away terminal delivered to the South Pole on short notice. This important first step demonstrates how Intelsat General could provide connectivity to the station using Paradigm’s Skynet-4C satellite and the Oakhanger ground station in tandem with Intelsat’s global fiber network.

The population at the station ranges from around 50 in the dark winter months to over 250 scientists and support staff in the sun-lit summer. The station relies on satellite links for transferring scientific data to researchers at universities, phones calls home, video conferencing, software updates, and emergency telemedicine. Sustaining the broadband IP networking connections to South Pole Station is essential for supporting advanced scientific research programs and station operations. Major astronomy and astrophysics research projects, such as the IceCube neutrino observatory and the South Pole Telescope, depend on broadband data communications for their success.

Due to its location on the southern-most point of the Earth, satellite dishes at South Pole Station are out of view of station-kept communications satellites orbiting the equator. However, the 20-year-old Skynet-4C satellite is in an inclined orbit and drifts slightly above and below the equatorial plane as it orbits the Earth. With its inclination now at 10.3 degrees, the satellite will barely clear the local horizon and be visible to the South Pole for five hours each day. As the satellite ages, the daily visibility will grow as the inclination increases. Skynet-4C could supplement the existing communications services provided to the South Pole station through GOES-3, a semi-retired weather satellite now managed by NSF, and part time coverage by NASA’s TDRSS fleet.