South Pole receives improved internet access
A communications satellite built by Lockheed Martin has been implemented to improve internet access at the South Pole.
The Amundsen-Scott Station, home to around 100 researchers, is located at 90° south at the South Pole. Communicating with the rest of the world is very challenging, even for orbiting satellites, because the extreme geographic latitude makes maintaining continuous communication links impossible.
In June, the US Air Force’s DSCS III B7 satellite took over the role of providing communication and data links between Amundsen-Scott and the US Antarctic Program facility in Christchurch, New Zealand, which serves as the station’s link to the rest of the world.
Replacing the NSF’s decommissioning GOES-3 satellite, DSCS III B7 provides the station with internet access for 3.5 hours a day at speeds of up to 30 megabits per second, an upgrade from the 1.5 megabits per second that was previously possible.
DSCS III B7 has already begun relaying health and welfare data links to and from the remote facility. In June, the satellite played a key role in relaying telemedicine data leading up to the medical evacuation of two NSF employees in need of additional medical care.
“The DSCS constellation has been a legacy workhorse for the US military’s super-high frequency communications,” said Chris Ayres, director of Operations, Sustainment and Logistics at Lockheed Martin Space Systems.
“Now operating past twice its design life, it is gratifying to see DSCS III B7 still delivering value, providing significant return on investment by furthering scientific research and providing potentially life-saving communications with a location that is otherwise unreachable.”
The satellite was originally built by Lockheed Martin and launched on 31 July 1995 with a 10-year design life. Six on-orbit DSCS III satellites remain operational with more than 259 years of combined service life.
Lockheed Martin sustains the DSCS constellation, as well as the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system and Milstar blocks I and II, under the Air Force’s Combined Orbital Operations Logistics Sustainment (COOLS) program.
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