European space security and education center
The European Space Security and Education Center , short ESEC (from English European Space Security & Education Center ), formerly known under the name Station Redu , is an ESTRACK radio station of the European Space Agency (ESA) for communication with spacecraft . The site is located about one kilometer from the village of Redu in Belgium. The ground terminals offer tracking functions in C-band , L-band , S-band , Ku-band and Ka-band as well as in-orbit tests of telecommunication satellites . ESEC reports directly to the ESA's European Space Control Center.
history
The first antennas were installed in 1968 to allow ESA to monitor and communicate with its satellites. Today the station has around twenty data transmission and reception antennas in many different frequency bands.
ESA's infrastructure in the Ardennes is closely linked to manned missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and to the implementation of the Galileo system. Thanks to the geostationary satellite Artemis , which forwards data in the S and Ka bands, he was able to monitor the maneuvers of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) "live" both during docking and during undocking and re-entry .
Since 2014, activities in the area of space cybersecurity and education of the ESA have taken place in Redu.
Web links
- ESA webpage on ESTRACK, including links to all stations
- ESA / ESTRACK Redu station page
- ESA Redu ground station gallery
Coordinates: 50 ° 0 ′ 6.8 " N , 5 ° 8 ′ 48" E