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(10 November 2014) With the first Copernicus satellite now operational, ESA and the DLR German Aerospace Center have signed an arrangement on managing and accessing Sentinel data.

The Sentinel family of satellites is being developed to meet the operational needs of Europe’s environment monitoring programme, Copernicus. The first in the fleet, Sentinel-1A, was launched in April and began its operational life a month ago.

The data provided by the Earth-observing missions are freely accessible for Copernicus Services, as well as to scientific and other users.

At an event held last week at the ESA Headquarters in Paris, France, ESA and Germany signed an Understanding for the Sentinel Collaborative Ground Segment Cooperation, which aims to facilitate Sentinel data exploitation in the country.

Signing on Germany’s behalf was Gerd Gruppe, a member of the DLR’s Executive Board.

Under the agreement, DLR will coordinate ground segment activities in Germany – such as hosting, distributing, ensuring access and archiving Sentinel data – and act as an interface between ESA and national initiatives. DLR also plans to cooperate with different European partners and institutions.

“Only when data actually reach users can the Copernicus benefits be realised – in the right place, in the right format and at the right moment,” said Dr Gruppe. “This understanding helps achieve this for users in Germany.”

As coordinator of the Copernicus ‘space component’, ESA supports national initiatives by establishing direct and efficient access to Sentinel data, providing technical advice on the setting up of data acquisition and dissemination, as well as making data processing and archiving software available to national initiatives.

“The collaborative ground segments will improve the access of users in Germany to Copernicus data very much. ESA is supporting its Member States to improve the access via a standard interface,” said Volker Liebig, Director of ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes and co-signatory of the Understanding.

Germany is the fourth Participating State to sign the agreement after Greece, Norway and Italy.

(source: ESA)

Belgium, October 28, 2014: The European Commission and ESA have signed an agreement of over Euro3 billion to manage and implement the Copernicus ‘space component’ between 2014 and 2021. ESA will also act as the research and development agency for the next generation of Copernicus.

The Multiannual Financial Framework is a seven-year plan for the EU’s budget that includes the provision of about Euro4.3 billion for the Copernicus environment monitoring programme for the period 2014-20. Under the agreement, about Euro3.15 billion of the money for Copernicus within the Framework will be delegated to ESA as coordinator of the ‘space component’, including the operation of the Sentinel satellites until mid-2021 and the building of follow-on units, which should last at least until 2028-30.

The signing of the agreement also marks the transfer of ownership of Sentinel-1A to the EU. “The Copernicus programme is an excellent example of innovation and cooperation in Europe and the signature today marks a milestone in the cooperation between ESA and the EU,” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General.

The agreement comes just weeks after the first Copernicus satellite, Sentinel-1A, became operational following intense data quality testing and calibration during its commissioning phase.

Source: ESA

(Friday, 07 November 2014) Alain Ratier, Director-General of EUMETSAT and Philippe Brunet, Director of Aerospace, Maritime, Security and Defence Industries within the European Commission’s Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry, today signed the Agreement between the European Union and EUMETSAT on the implementation of the Copernicus Programme.

This follows the approval by the EUMETSAT Council of the Third Party Programme on EUMETSAT’s Copernicus activities on 15 October.

The agreement marks a key milestone for the Copernicus programme which entrusts EUMETSAT with important operational tasks and a related budget of 229 million Euro to support the implementation of the programme.

While the European Commission has overall responsibility for the Copernicus programme, defining priority areas of action, objective and strategies, EUMETSAT will provide key support for the implementation of the Copernicus space component and the Copernicus services.

Under the agreement, EUMETSAT will exploit the Jason-3 and Sentinel-3 oceanographic missions on behalf of the European Union, starting in 2015, in support of the Copernicus marine service. It will also prepare the Jason-3 follow-up mission and the Sentinel-6 high precision ocean altimetry mission.

As of 2020, EUMETSAT will fly the Copernicus Sentinel-4 and Sentinel-5 instruments on its Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) and Metop-Second Generation (Metop-SG) satellites. Based on the unique synergy between these Copernicus and the EUMETSAT instruments flown on both families of spacecraft, EUMETSAT will deliver integrated data services for the monitoring of atmospheric composition and forecasting of air quality.

The Copernicus programme will provide European decision makers, business and citizens with reliable, accurate and timely environmental information services in support of decision making needed to ensure the well-being and civil security of current and future generations of Europeans.

The EUMETSAT Director-General said: ”With this agreement we will capitalise on the synergy between EUMETSAT and Copernicus assets to deliver new integrated data services for the monitoring of ocean and atmospheric composition and create unique opportunities for users in the EU and EUMETSAT Member States.”

Director Brunet remarked: “We are glad to be able to conclude this landmark agreement with EUMETSAT. We really value the technical competence and experience of EUMETSAT’s staff to make Europe’s flagship space programme on Earth observation a success story which will serve society in many ways including by timely environmental monitoring as well as creating a thriving downstream sector.”

About EUMETSAT

The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites is an intergovernmental organisation based in Darmstadt, Germany, currently with 30 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom) and one Cooperating State (Serbia).

EUMETSAT operates the geostationary satellites Meteosat-8, -9 and -10 over Europe and Africa, and Meteosat-7 over the Indian Ocean.

EUMETSAT also operates two Metop polar-orbiting satellites as part of the Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS) shared with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

EUMETSAT also exploits the Jason-2 ocean altimetry satellite in cooperation with NOAA, NASA and CNES, to monitor sea state, ocean currents and sea level change from space.

EUMETSAT is developing new satellite systems in cooperation with ESA and other partners to expand its portfolio of observations of the atmosphere, ocean and land surfaces in the 2020-2040 timeframe.

The data and products from EUMETSAT’s satellites are vital to weather forecasting and make a significant contribution to the monitoring of environment and the climate.

With almost 40 years of data, EUMETSAT’s data archives and services form an invaluable asset for climate monitoring and the understanding of climate change.

Media Relations EUMETSAT:
Tel: +49 6151 807 7320
Fax: +49 6151 807 7321
Email: press@eumetsat.int

(Nov 2014) A satellite system comprising active and passive microwave remote sensors enables synchronous accurate acquisition of key elements in the Earth’s water cycle.

The global water cycle is the continuous transformation and movement of water on, above, and below the surface of the Earth through the phases of liquid, solid (ice and snow), and gas (vapor). It is the most active and important of the planet’s cycles, defining Earth’s mass, energy transportation, and transitions, and is influenced by factors such as global climate and human activity. To measure the effects of these transformations, scientists examine spatial distribution and temporal variations in images of cycle processes. However, such studies are currently limited by shortfalls in knowledge and observational capabilities. Existing systems offer satellite monitoring of the cycle, but the images they produce would benefit from improved temporal resolution, for example.

Here, we present an integrated satellite-based observation system for the key elements and corresponding processes of the global water cycle. Our approach enhances observing and retrieval capabilities, to improve Earth science and global change studies. The proposed system, the Water Cycle Observation Mission (WCOM; see Figure 1), monitors soil moisture, ocean salinity, snow water equivalent, soil freeze-thaw processes, atmospheric water vapor, and precipitation. Moreover, its optimized payload configuration and design enable the mission to provide observations of all the environmental parameters—dominant and auxiliary—required for accurate retrieval of water cycle information. We can use the resulting datasets to refine the long-term satellite observations made during recent decades, and to monitor changes in hydrological elements.

full article

(Nov 2014) A Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr RS-20B (SS-18 Satan) rocket successfully launched five Japanese satellites into orbit on Thursday, Nov. 6. The mission used a military missile conversion program and took place at 7:35 a.m. UTC from the Yasny Space Site in the Orenburg region of Russia. A representative for Kosmotras company, in charge of the program, said that the rocket was carrying an ASNARO-1 Earth observation satellite and four university-made micro-satellites for Japan.Roscosmos announced that initial telemetry suggests that mission was a success.


“The rocket has successfully put the space vehicles into orbit,” a spokesperson for the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, Col. Igor Egorov said.

“With this launch the Strategic Missile Force confirmed effectiveness of training and smooth and concerted performance of the launch personnel and tested the reliability of the strategic missile force measurement complex, which is currently in the process of fundamental upgrade,” Egorov said.

The launch was executed by the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Ministry of Defense with the support of the Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakhstan organizations, which are part of the ISC Kosmotras industrial team.

When all of the satellites were released, the third stage continued firing to move it away from the satellites to mark the successful completion of this Japanese Cluster launch. The launch was the 21st Dnepr mission, and the second of the year. It was likely the final Dnepr mission in 2014 with at least three missions scheduled for 2015.

The ASNARO satellite fleet was originally planned to launch atop Japan’s new Epsilon SmallSat Launch Vehicle, however, changes in schedule prompted the Japanese to purchase a Dnepr launch vehicle to deliver the first satellite in the series to orbit. Dnepr is one of the cheapest launch vehicles that are currently flying offering a payload capability of up to 4,500 Kilograms to low-Earth orbit.

Four micro-satellites that were also launched Thursday are in the 50-Kilogram weight class, namely ChubuSat-1, Hodoyoshi-1, TSUBAME and Qsat-EOS – all dedicated to various technical demonstrations, Earth observation and scientific studies.

The Dnepr program, established by Russia and Ukraine in the 1990s, converts military RS-20 ICBMs into carrier rockets to put satellites into low Earth orbit. The program uses missiles withdrawn from combat duty, solving the problem of their elimination.

Dnepr is a R-36M missile also known as SS-18 Satan that was stationed all across the Soviet Union starting in 1966, outfitted with multiple warheads and independent re-entry vehicles. After the end of the cold war and the fall of the Soviet Union, a portion of the R-36 fleet was modified to become Space Launch Vehicles.

Technical maintenance of rockets used to be carried out by Ukrainian specialists, before Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered a moratorium on military-industrial cooperation with Russia in June over the armed conflict in Donbas.

This article originally appeared on Astro Watch and can be viewed here: SATAN
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(28 October 2014) As part of the preparations for the Sentinel-5 Precursor air-quality monitoring mission, scientists teamed up in Romania recently to test different airborne systems that will be used to ensure this new satellite delivers accurate measurements of pollutants in the air we breathe.

The World Health Organization estimates that around 3.7 million people died prematurely in 2012 as a result of being exposed to outdoor air pollution.

With air pollution now the world’s largest single environmental health risk, it has never been more important to monitor the air we breathe.

Governments and bodies such as the World Health Organization rely heavily on satellite data and computer models showing how pollution drifts in the air so that they can develop appropriate mitigation strategies.

Planned to be launched in 2016, Sentinel-5P will provide timely data on a multitude of trace gases and aerosols affecting air quality and the climate. The mission will also pinpoint pollution hotspots where public health could be at risk.

It is the first Sentinel satellite dedicated to monitoring the atmosphere for Europe’s Copernicus programme – the largest environmental monitoring initiative in the world.

As with any Earth observation mission, it is important to make sure satellite instruments deliver accurate data and that this information can be used easily.

This usually involves developing similar sensors that take measurements from aircraft – but they, too, have to be tested. Importantly, airborne instruments are also used to validate data once the satellites are in orbit.

The recent Airborne Romanian Measurements of Aerosols and Trace Gases, Aromat, campaign drew scientists from eight European institutes to Bucharest to test new airborne systems dedicated to validating satellite air-quality measurements.

Coordinated by the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, BIRA, on behalf of ESA, the campaign tested sensors such as the University of Bremen’s AirMap, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute’s nitrogen dioxide sonde and BIRA’s small whiskbroom imager for trace gases monitoring.

Romania is a relatively new ESA Member State and this is the first Earth observation campaign to be carried out in the country. Notably, the Romanian University of Galati, the National Institute of Aerospace Research and the National Institute for Research and Development in Optoelectronics took part.

In addition, the exercise served to prepare forthcoming intercomparison validation campaigns that may also be carried out in Romania.

Two sites were chosen: Bucharest, a large urban environment with a lot of emissions from traffic – the image above clearly shows the large cloud of nitrogen dioxide emitted from the city, and the Jiu Valley where the large Turceni and Rovinari power stations generate localised plumes.

A Cessna-207 research aircraft, which logged 50 hours of flight, weather balloons and two kinds of unmanned aircraft carried a range of sensors to measure the distribution of nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and aerosols. Measurements were also taken from instruments on the ground for comparison.

The multitude of measurements, which are now being analysed, will form an important dataset to help assess the quality of the data from Sentinel-5P.

As its name suggests, Sentinel-5 Precursor is the forerunner of the Sentinel-5 instrument that will be carried on the MetOp Second Generation satellites expected to be operational in 2021.

Since air pollution is an immediate concern, Sentinel-5P is crucial for monitoring and forecasting global air quality, and for arming decision-makers with important information to support policy making until Sentinel-5 takes over.

(source: ESA)

(30 October 2014) Sentinel-2A is in the middle of an extensive testing programme to make sure this land-monitoring satellite is fit for launch next spring.

As well as being shaken and stressed, engineers have also checked that it will separate from the rocket for its life in orbit.

Sentinel-2A is the next of ESA’s satellites dedicated to Europe’s environmental monitoring Copernicus programme.

It carries a state-of-the art high-resolution multispectral imager with 13 spectral bands which, along with the satellite’s wide swath of 290 km and frequent revisit times, will provide unprecedented views of Earth’s land and vegetation.

To make sure this precious new satellite reaches orbit to deliver vital information for a range of applications that include monitoring plant growth and mapping changes in land cover, it has to be thoroughly tested before it is shipped to French Guiana for launch on a Vega rocket.

Since August, the Sentinel-2A satellite has been at IABG’s testing facilities near Munich in Germany where it has already been put through numerous functional and mechanical checks.

The latest round has focused on ensuring that it can withstand the noise and vibrations of liftoff and the shocks generated by the separation from the rocket.

This involved joining the satellite to a launch adapter and a model of Vega’s upper stage to check that they fit together as they should. The engineers also joined the umbilical connectors as part of this fit check.

In an acoustic chamber, two simultaneous explosions made sure the satellite will be able to withstand the shock when the rocket’s fairing is released shortly after the launch.

As the video above shows, a further test simulated the shock of separation when the satellite is released into orbit.

The Sentinel mission is based on a constellation of two identical satellites that are being developed in parallel. Sentinel-2B, which will be launched on a Rockot from Russia, will join Sentinel-2A in orbit in 2016.

That means a similar separation test was also carried out using a model of the Rockot adapter.

Prior to these important tests, engineers have also carried out a ‘light-tightness test’ to check that no light can enter the cavity holding the multispectral instrument. They also filled the fuel tank with 133 kg of fluid to stress its interfaces as in flight.

The satellite was then placed on a shaker to simulate the worst possible conditions during transportation and launch. In addition, the powerful sound system available in IABG’s acoustic chamber, replicated the very high sound pressure levels that will be experienced by the satellite during liftoff and its journey into orbit.

Paolo Laberinti, ESA’s Sentinel-2A Assembly, Integration and Test Manager, commented, “All these stringent tests have, so far, run very smoothly.

“Thanks to Airbus Defence and Space and IABG’s expertise, we can look forward confidently to the next phase of activities that will take us to the end of the year.

“The next round will include the full deployment of the solar panels, a check on the satellite’s alignment and the removal of the accelerometers prior to transferring the satellite to a thermal vacuum chamber where it will be exposed to harsh conditions that simulate the environment of space.”

The final Qualification and Acceptance Review will be held in March, before ESA gives permission to ship the satellite to French Guiana for launch.

(source: ESA)

Very high-resolution satellite images can effectively support the monitoring of water quality during dredging activities for the installation of new off -shore infrastructures.

Project Background

Saipem S.p.A, an Italian oil and gas industry contractor, which was contracted for designing and constructing several pipelines all around the world, has adopted this innovative approach in water quality monitoring. The new approach integrates traditional analysis methods with daily collections of high-resolution satellite images over the area of interest.

Issues & Needs

During trench excavation, small soil particles remain temporary suspended in the seawater creating a peak of turbidity at the excavation time that progressively reduces its own values until reaching natural ranges.
The aim of the activities described is to evaluate in near real-time the possible presence and diffusion of sediments and their impact on the surrounding area.

Solution

The performed activities consisted in near real-time turbidity monitoring through high resolution satellite images.
The new methodology offered by Planetek, starting from raw satellite data and through several processing steps (e.g.: atmospheric correction, conversion from digital number to reflectance), realizes a fast production of turbidity maps ready to be used few hours after the satellite acquisition.

Results & Perspectives

The performed activities consisted in turbidity monitoring through high-resolution satellite images, using an innovative near real-time methodology and considering as a real case of application the excavation works. The advantages, proving that the satellite methodology and the automated workflows, can be resumed as:

  • capability to define spatially and quantitatively the sediment dispersion;
  • capability to receive the turbidity data in near real-time;
  • capability to carry out the monitoring without involvement of workers on site;
  • capability to document in a detailed and indisputable manner the work footprint, in case of any observations or claims by the client;
  • capability to use the monitoring data for the predictive modelling calibration.

Related Info
Planetek Italia
via Massaua 12 70132, Bari Italy.
http://www.planetek.it
info@planetek.it

Each and every aerial survey company is constantly put under pressure by both its customers and competitors to downsize the costs of survey projects.

At the first stage of an aerial survey project, in collecting the data, it is the flying time that costs money. The costs are determined for example by the size of the area to be surveyed, the number of flight lines needed to cover the area, and good enough light and weather conditions allowing flying.

Another stage of the remote sensing project where the cost-effectiveness is critical is the data processing. Because of huge amount of indirect mapping methods and manual work needed in data classification, that stage can constitute up to 70 % of costs of an aerial survey project, and therefore huge savings can be achieved.

Increasing automation of data classification

Is it possible to integrate hyperspectral data with LiDAR point cloud and increase automation of data classification? Sean Anklam, the President at Exogenesis, the provider of big geospatial data says yes, it is possible. And by doing that, it is possible to decrease the cost of data processing. Sean Anklam, a specialist in integrating and synthesizing big geospatial data at Exogenesis, and additionally National Intelligence Council Adviser for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is not questioning the significance of LiDAR and hyperspectral data fusion.

“I think it’s the Holy Grail of remote sensing. The two different disciplines of remote sensing complement one another so well and each fill a critical information shortfall. LiDAR provides you with intensity information and height and volume and texture whereas hyperspectral provides you with material composition, chemical composition and you are then fully able to describe an object, whether it’s a tree or a house or a road in terms of what is made of and its actual size. You can describe a tree’s canopy structure, height, stem spacing, leaf size, types of leaves, tree health etc.“

Sean has created an algorithm that transforms and fuses both datasets into a frequency and then performs an inverse transformation to produce polysynthetic dataset, the truly fused HSI & LiDAR point cloud, where each point has a chemical signature associated with it. “This is probably the most powerful way to express those dual capabilities because it enables you to do stream processing classifying things like tree types, fire fuels for forest fire modeling etc”, he says. “Within the oil and gas industry it has tremendous value for not only mapping oil and gas infrastructure, but detecting spills and leaks and other signs of aging in the infrastructure.”

Currently, the manual classification of LiDAR point cloud using RGBi imagery can take up to 70 % of the total aerial survey project cost just. “The way that expense gets diminished is through the hyperspectral-LiDAR fusion process where the new dataset enables a whole battery of automated stream processing tools.”

For forest tree species classification Exogenesis has created a tool called Random Forest. It generates the automated decision entry classifiers to ride across the LiDAR and hyperspectral data in concert with one another, and it produces tremendously accurate results. According to Sean the cost of data processing can be halved by using data fusion.

Decreasing the number of flight lines

Before the data can be processed, it needs to be collected. The most important condition that has to be met in order to fuse the two different data sets afterwards is that the both sensor technologies must be in the same platform; aircraft, helicopter or UAV. Both of those data sets need to be georeferenced and it is cheapest to do if both of those sensors share the same GNSS/IMU.

Flying is expensive and aerial survey data collection costs typically 1000-2000 Euros an hour. Sometimes bad weather can keep the aircraft on the ground for days. When it finally can fly, the number of flight hours needed is determined by the size of the area to be surveyed and the number of flight lines needed to cover the area. Often the surveyed areas are large and therefore the possibility to reduce the number strips is crucial in cutting the costs. “The addition of LiDAR to a hyperspectral collection dramatically reduces errors caused by shadows and topographic distortion thereby requiring fewer flight lines to be collected”, Sean says.

The full spectrum hyperspectral sensors usually have 384 spatial pixels, and that is the case for example with SPECIM’s AisaFENIX. To be able to cut the costs of flying even more by reducing the number of flight lines, and at the same time retaining the pixel size, the hyperspectral sensor should have significantly more spatial pixels. By using SPECIM’s new full spectrum imager, AisaFENIX 1K, which does have 1024 spatial pixels, the number of flight lines can be reduced by 60 %. For example, if previously 15 hours of flying was needed to cover a specific survey area, with AisaFENIX it can be covered in 6 hours.

“In addition to the cost reduction, by combining hyperspectral imaging with LiDAR surveying it is possible for survey providers to create entirely new data applications and therefore new business”, Sean points out.

Source

© Spacenews (By Peter B. de Selding | Oct. 9, 2014-UPDATED Oct. 13 at 12:38 p.m. EDT)

BRUSSELS — The European Commission, confirming satellite industry fears, has decided to allow terrestrial broadband operators to use a portion of C-band spectrum that had been reserved exclusively for satellite use, a senior commission official said Oct. 9.

The decision is likely to tip the position of the broader grouping that represents European governments at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as it prepares for the upcoming World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in late 2015.

More immediately, the decision is all but certain to affect the outcome of a WRC preconference of more than 100 governments scheduled for Oct. 20-Nov. 7 in Busan, South Korea, which will set the agenda for WRC-15. It now appears likely that the C-band issue will be placed on that agenda.

One satellite industry official said the decision, which was first articulated in 2008, should be viewed in a positive light insofar as the commission is also committing to preserving an adjacent block of C-band spectrum for satellite use. That upper portion of C-band spectrum also is coveted by terrestrial broadband operators.

Yet to be determined is how the European representatives will present their decision to their counterparts in Latin America, Africa and Asia, where the use of C-band for essential telecommunications services and television is widespread.

“Our worry is that whatever Europe says, other nations will take note of the fact that European governments think half the C-band downlink spectrum now allocated to satellites should be opened to terrestrial broadband despite efforts to demonstrate that it causes interference with the satellite signal,” said an official with one European satellite operator. “The terrestrial guys will use this to the maximum extent possible.”

Roberto Viola, deputy director general for the European Commission’s DG Connect division, said the commission’s decision to open up the lower part of the C-band spectrum, between 3.4 and 3.8 gigahertz, to terrestrial wireless operators might need “harmonization” to protect against interference.

But in an address to a conference on satellite frequency interference and spectrum allocation here organized by the French International Foreign Affairs Institute and the Secure World Foundation, Viola said the decision was final.

The upper half of the band, from 3.8 to 4.2 gigahertz, he said, would be protected as Europe prepares for the ITU’s Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan.

“We have fixed the so-called C-band problem,” Viola said. “It’s a good starting point for coexistence” between satellite and terrestrial networks.

In Europe, like in the United States, C-band satellite transmissions, while still widespread, are nowhere as prevalent in the overall telecommunications landscape as they are in Latin America, Africa and parts of Asia.

The commission “has no appetite” for removing the protections afforded to satellite transmissions in the upper part of the band, Viola said, “and we will make this clear at the upcoming radio conference.”

One of the difficulties the satellite industry has had in defending the C-band allocations against encroachment by more-powerful terrestrial transmissions is that so many C-band receive-only antennas in the developing world are not registered. Neither local nor international regulations required registration, meaning that satellite operators have been left to guess as to how many are in service.

Nigel Fry, head of distribution at the BBC World Service Group — which distributes programming over multiple terrestrial and satellite platforms — said less than 2 percent of the C-band receivers used by BBC’s audience are registered. The total number is estimated in the hundreds of thousands worldwide.

Fry said that, like the BBC, many European broadcasters and satellite fleet operators do substantial business outside Europe and will be affected by any move to invite terrestrial broadband into C-band.

Measures can be taken to compensate for fixed terrestrial services, Fry said, but allowing mobile broadband into C-band “will be disastrous” to the satellite links. “We can coexist with the fixed services, all it takes is some work. But sharing with [terrestrial] mobile is a bridge too far,” he said.

Various satellite-sector groups are now mobilizing for the Busan meeting and for the WRC-15 conference. Armed with studies purporting to show that terrestrial wireless does not use all the spectrum already allocated to it, and calling into question the spectrum-demand growth alleged by terrestrial wireless networks, satellite groups hope to hold the line on C-band encroachment.

Cecil Ameil, senior manager for European affairs at satellite fleet operator SES of Luxembourg, said the several hundred megahertz of contiguous C-band spectrum is a natural target for terrestrial wireless operators.

Proposals that C-band satellite customers outfit their antennas with filters to protect against terrestrial emissions will not work, Ameil said.

Each filter costs hundreds of dollars. Asking hundreds of thousands of consumers to purchase and install them is unrealistic, Ameil said.

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