|
The Satellite Command and Control Facility (SCCF) was established in
1976 on Virginia Key, FL by means of National Science Foundation (NSF)
assistance grants to the University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of
Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) to provide voice and data
communications via satellite for ocean-going and land-based scientific
purposes. Initial services were provided via the Government furnished
Applications Technology Satellites (ATS-1, ATS-3). Collateral support
was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), first for experimental access, and subsequently (beginning in
1982) for direct funding support to the University of Miami for
hardware, software, engineering, and operations, for satellite
command/control of ATS-3. In 1979 the ground station was moved to
Malabar, FL (about 150 miles north of Miami) with network connections
to Miami. Routine operations continued at the Malabar site until Fall,
2001. Preparation of a new facility in Richmond, FL, the Richmond
Satellite Operations Center (RSOC), began in Spring 2000 and operations
were phased in during Fall, 2001. In June of 2004, the Raytheon Polar
Services Company assumed the administration of the contract. The
Richmond Campus is located at the old US NAVY Observatory VLBI Site,
which is about 15 miles south of Miami in southern Miami-Dade county.
The RSOC Facility has the capability to command and control GOES-3
(Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite model 3) as well as
to utilize VHF and S-band communications via the GOES platform. The
facility includes a 20-m antenna for GOES-3 L/S band communications.
Currently the facility is used to support voice and data communications
with the U.S. Antarctic Amundsen Scott South Pole station.
To complement the RSOC communications capability at the Richmond
Campus, the Rosenstiel School, in conjunction with several other
universities and research groups, and with support from the US
Department of Defense and NASA, has developed a high capability
receiving facility for satellite data. This facility, the Center for
Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing (
CSTARS
), is co-located
on the Richmond Campus. CSTARS initial operational capability includes
two 11m X-band receiving systems for reception of data from low earth
orbiting, earth viewing satellite platforms. CSTARS operations began in
late summer, 2002.
|