Programmes

As part of Telespazio, a company in the front line of the major European space missions and actively cooperating with leading space agencies worldwide, RARTEL relies on a wealth of experience at the highest level , stemming from Telespazio qualified involvement in space programmes of great significance, such as: Galileo, EGNOS, COSMO-SkyMed, Copernicus, PRISMA, SICRAL, ATHENA-FIDUS, OPTSAT-3000 and Gotkurk.

RARTEL’s experience is drawn from the management of ground station infrastructure, as well as from its qualified involvement in space projects with the European Space Agency and several national and international Space institutions.

European Space Agency


SST Cheia radar: RARTEL retrofits two 32 meters C-band antennas  located in Cheia, Romania, to implement a quasi-monostatic radar for SST (Space Surveillance and Tracking). The expected high performance of the radar sensor will allow detection and tracking of Space Debris of various size and altitude for the purpose of protecting ground and in orbit infrastructures.     

Safer Danube (ESA Artes 20): The project has developed a tool for the river navigation companies in order to be able to identify position and evolution of sand banks (in summer) and ice banks (in winter) over the Danube River and to display it on the navigation ships' map, allowing them to manage and optimize the ships' route. This task is performed using Synthetic Aperture Radar data, properly processed through specific algorithms, satellite mobile communications systems as well as GNSS space infrastructures (Global Navigation Satellite Systems).

RO-GovSatCom: The project, developed under an ESA contract, aimed to set up the preparatory activities for the possible participation of Romania in the GovSatCom Precursor programme. The GovSatCom programme will respond to European secure satellite communications needs as defined in the initial requirements of GovSatCom and will support European satellite industry.

ALOS PDGS Conversion Tools: Within the Copernicus-related activities, RARTEL participated to the development of the ALOS REpatriation Tool devoted to the integration of the Japanese Earth-Observation satellite data as a Contributing Mission to the Copernicus programme. RARTEL performed the Software Verification and Validation Specification, providing the definition of the Test Design, Test Case and Test Procedures against system requirements.

TTC Scheduler: Development of a software package aimed at scheduling in an optimised way the utilisation of a population of ground stations, however distributed, for telemetry applications or for data reception from large satellite constellations. The operational scenarios included both geostationary and low-earth orbit satellites. The solution is based on Java and makes use of Genetic Algorithms (GA) for solving scheduling problems.

CDS-V3 / PRISM: Within the Copernicus-related activities, RARTEL participates in the development of the PRISM system, an infrastructure designed to facilitate the population, archiving and access of Earth Observation data supplied by the Data Providers who contribute to the Copernicus programme. The activities are related the software development, units tests, integration tests, system validation tests, and documentation preparation. PRISM is a continuation of CDS-v3 development in which Rartel is also part of the SW development team.

Jupiter II: RARTEL participated in the software development and IVV component for the upgrade of the Jupiter II launch control room within Kourou Space Centre in French Guyana, under the coordination of the French Space Agency (CNES).

EGS-CC: RARTEL, within a large international consortium working under an ESA contract,  contributed to the development of the European Ground Segment Common Core (EGS-CC), a common system for Spacecraft AIT (Assembly, Integration & Test) aimed at maximising  synergies, reduce costs, risks in space missions, and to promote the European Space market.

National and International Space Institutions


Meteosat Third Generation: RARTEL has implemented in the Cheia Teleport for Eumetsat in 2017 the TT&C antenna providing telemetry, tracking and ranging services for the new Meteosat satellite network and provides the related long term operational services.

Meteosat Second Generation: through a pair of dual-band antennas installed at the Cheia Teleport, RARTEL provides  the long-term operational services for Eumetsat, supporting telemetry, tracking and ranging services, as well as satellite image reception.

Inmarsat GX5 Gateway: RARTEL operates, through a Ka band 10 meters antenna, one of the European new Inmarsat Global Xpress 5 Gateways. Inmarsat GX5 provide global on-the-move broadband telecommunication services at land, sea and air.

SICRAL: RARTEL operates a 9 meters S-band antenna, devoted to telemetry, tracking and ranging services for the Italian military satellite constellation SICRAL.

TVR: RARTEL delivered and installed in Bucharest and in Cheia a fully redundant uplink antenna system to provide the satellite distribution of the entire National Romanian Television channel bouquet. RARTEL also provides the space  segment and the related long term-services.

Romanian MoD: RARTEL provides satellite communication networks for terrestrial, naval and air forces.

Galileo

Galileo

Galileo is the programme, originated from the co-operation between the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA), aimed at improving the technological self-sufficiency of Europe and at defining the international standards for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS).

Egnos

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) – a joint project of ESA, the European Commission and Eurocontrol – is the first pan-European satellite navigation system with a high accuracy geolocation feature (less than 3m.), which improves GPS (Global Positioning System) accuracy.

Egnos

COSMO-SkyMed

COSMO-SkyMed

COSMO-SkyMed, one of the most innovative Earth Observation programmes, has been financed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the Italian Ministry of Defence, and the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Scientific Research.

Copernicus

The Copernicus programme, coordinated by the European Commission in collaboration with ESA, is designed to monitor the environment and to mitigate the effects of climate change, contributing to the management of humanitarian emergencies, natural disasters and civil security.

Copernicus

Sentinel

Sentinel

ESA is developing six families of Sentinel satellite missions specifically designed for the operational needs of the Copernicus programme. The Sentinels provide high-resolution radar and optical images of our planet.

Prisma

PRISMA (PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa/HyperSpectral Precursor of the Application Mission) is a programme-funded by Italian Space Agency (ASI) and represents a global excellence, which highlights the capacity of Italy to provide a turnkey space system, from design to construction, from launching to ground data management.

Prisma

Sicral

Sicral

SICRAL (Italian System for Secure Communications and Alerts), is Italy’s satellite system for military communications, boasting unprecedented flexibility and versatility. The system allows interoperability between the networks of defence, law enforcement and civil emergency agencies, and those responsible for the management of strategic infrastructure.

Athena Fidus

The ATHENA-FIDUS programme (Access on THeatres and European Nations for Allied forces - French Italian Dual Use Satellite) is a French-Italian telecommunications system based on a geostationary satellite for dual use broadband communications services.

Athena Fidus

Optsat 3000

Optsat 3000

OPTSAT-3000 is a space programme for Earth observation by the Italian Ministry of Defence. The system is made up of a high resolution optical satellite and a ground segment for in-orbit control, mission planning and acquisition and processing of images.

Gokturk

The Göktürk-1 programme has led to the construction by Telespazio (prime contractor) and Thales Alenia Space, for the Turkish Ministry of Defence (SSM, Savunma Sanayii Müsteşarlığı), of a satellite for Earth observation with a high-resolution optical sensor, a satellite integration and test centre in Ankara (inaugurated in 2015).

Gokturk