A UK-built system called COLKa (for ‘Columbus Ka-band Terminal’), will allow astronauts and researchers to benefit from a direct link with Europe at ‘home broadband speeds’, relaying data from experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) back to Earth ‘almost instantaneously’.
Graham Turnock, CEO of the UK Space Agency, said: “This is the first major industrial contribution from the UK to the ISS. It will revolutionise the ability of scientists in the UK and Europe to access the results of their experiments (
www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-space-agency).”
The ‘fridge-size’ device was launched aboard a Cygnus supply ship from Wallops Island (Virginia) on 15 February, carrying more than three tonnes of supplies and experiments for the ISS.
Two astronauts will carry out a space-walk later this year to mount COLKa to the outside of the Columbus module (pictured).
It will transmit data to a ground station at Harwell (Oxfordshire) that is near ESA’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications; from there, the data will be transferred to the Columbus Control Centre and user centres across Europe.
David Kenyon, managing director of Harwell-based MDA UK , which designed and built COLKa, said: “This programme has firmly established MDA in the UK as a leading provider of high-quality space equipment, positioning us for continued growth in both communications and space sensor markets (
www.ukspace.org/member/mda).
"The know-how gained from designing, building and running COLKa could be used for ESA’s communications package that is being designed for the Lunar Gateway — an outpost over 1,000-times further from Earth than the International Space Station.”