Nebula Public Library

In this project, the University of Luxembourg studied and evaluated a new concept of connecting space missions via space internet providers. The system requirements, necessary adaptations, and possible limitations are provided and discussed. Three types of space internet provider were studied and evaluated: Starlink, OneWeb and O3b mPOWER.

This activity investigates how mega-constellations can be used to provide low-Earth orbit (LEO) spacecraft with broadband low-latency services, a novel Concept with potential to disrupt spacecraft design, operation, and performance by allowing spacecraft to access mega-constellations’ enormous resources (Tbit/s throughputs) and global coverage at a lower cost than traditional data relay systems and ground station networks (two to fifty times cheaper, that is, a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per month for a daily net capacity from hundredths of Gbit up to almost ten Tbit).

Optical satellite communications play an increasingly important role in a number of space applications. However, if the system concept includes optical links to the surface of Earth, the limited availability due to clouds and other atmospheric impacts need to be considered to give a reliable estimate of the system performance. An OGS network is required for increasing the availability to acceptable figures.

Implementation of the European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 requires that a huge amount of physical balises (known as Eurobalises), used to determine each train’s position and direction of motion, be deployed in order to support safe operation of high-speed/high-frequency train services all along the European railway infrastructure. The associated costs are substantial, which motivates the investigation of cheaper technologies.