European Space Station in Malindi

 

Did you know that Malindi is host to the European Space Agency? The ESA space station and situational awareness.

 

 Malindi station terminal (MAL-1, 10m) provides tracking capabilities in S-band (transmit & receive) and L- and X-band (receive); the station is operated by ASI, the Italian Space Agency, in cooperation with the University of Rome, Centro di Ricerca Progetto San Marco (CRPSM), and is used by ESA for LEOP (launch and early operation phase) as well as back-up coverage.  

Location || 2.996°S, 40.196°E

The station lies within ASI's L. Broglio Space Centre, located at 2.995556° South and 40.194511° East. The 10-m antenna terminal elevation is -12.75 metres. The L. Broglio Space Centre is situated in Ungwana Bay, Ngomeni, near Malindi, Kenya. The site is on the coast about 115 km north of Mombasa.
 

Facilities & technology

The station hosts a 10-m antenna that transmits and receives signals in S-band, and receives in L- and X-band, plus facilities for tacking, telemetry, telecommand and radiometric measurements (ranging, Doppler), and communications are enabled via the ESA Operations Network (OPSNET).
 

	10m antenna, Malindi station

The site is equipped with a no-break power plant.
Operations
The site is operated by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The exploitation of the site is carried out by ASI and the Centro Ricerca Aerospaziali (CRA), Centro di Ricerca Progetto San Marco (CRPSM), of the University of Rome. ESA's usage of the Malindi-1 (MAL-1) terminal and the hosting of the GPS-TDAF system is through CRPSM, while the hosting of the GESS system is through ASI.
The facility was established in 1964 and managed by the University of Rome until 2004, when management was transferred to ASI. In 1995, an inter-governmental agreement renewed the bilateral space co-operation between Italy and Kenya. In 1996, Italy, Kenya and ESA signed a tri-lateral agreement to cooperate for the use and development of the Centre. Activities during the past 40 years span from rocket launches to satellite TT&C support and remote sensing image acquisition.
Malindi has provided lEOP support for recent ESA launches including Rosetta and MetOp. The station supports Ariane launches, as well as missions operated by the Chinese space Agency (Shenzou), the ASI-NASA Swift mission (since November 2003) and ASI's AGILE mission (starting in April 2007).
 

GPS-TDAF/GESS

A GPS-TDAF (GPS Tracking and Data Analysis Facility) dual-frequency receiver system with geodetic accuracy is installed on the site, which delivers continuous measurements to the ESOC Navigation Facility.
Since November 2006, the station has also hosted a Galileo Experimental Sensor Station (GESS) receiver with geodetic accuracy, which delivers continuous measurements to the ESOC Navigation Facility.
 

Access & contact

The ESOC point of contact is:
Head of Ground Facilities Operations Div. (OPS-ON)
ESOC, Darmstadt
Tel: +49-6151-90-0
Local site contact:
Luigi Broglio Space Centre Telemetry Station
CRPSM Station Manager
Mr Marco Cecchini
Mr Emilio Fioravanti
ttcmal [@] psm.uniroma1.it
Tel: +254-42-30959
Mailing address:
Luigi Broglio Space Centre Telemetry Station
P.O. Box 203
Malindi
Kenya