SSC rolls out the world’s first global Ka-band network

By upgrading its polar and equatorial locations to support Ka-band data reception, SSC rolls out a truly global Ka-band network mainly focused on EO missions. This important milestone will enable Earth Observation missions to use higher bandwidths and receive larger data volumes, allowing space companies to use their assets more effectively.

“We are very happy to introduce the world’s first global Ka-band network for Earth Observation missions. SSC always strives to offer ground support that reflects the size and ambitions of the

Market. This investment meets the growing demand of higher throughput capability for Earth Observation missions”, says Miranda Pirrie, President Satellite Management Services at SSC.

The upgrade spans accross SSC’s strategic locations in Punta Arenas in Chile, Sri Racha in Thailand, Inuvik in Canada and Esrange in Sweden, as well as the SSC partner station in Weilheim in Germany.

The network upgrade builds on the recent work where Ka-band capability was added to SSC’s polar sites in Canada and Sweden. While the polar stations provide large data volumes at good latency, the equatorial stations allow increased volumes and enabling timeliness coverage for selected regions. And the expansion continues as the company plans for complementary Ka-band featured antennas, starting with two new radome antennas to be introduced in northern Sweden in 2021.