The Finnish Meteorological Institute’s (FMI) Sodankylä Arctic Space Centre has been equipped with a new SOD04 satellite data reception system with a parabolic antenna dish (diameter of 3.7m) that will improve the transmission of satellite data for meteorology and environmental awareness applications.
The purpose of the new L-/X-band satellite dish is to replace the previous SOD01 antenna in direct readout (DR) data reception. In addition to the new system, the current satellite ground segment facility at Sodankylä incorporates two high-data-rate systems with 7.3m antennas for the reception of data transmissions from polar orbiting satellites.
During 2022, the SOD04 system, operating at the L- and X-bands, will be followed by an identical SOD05 antenna to provide redundancy, reliability and additional capacity. The Arctic Space Centre in Sodankylä hosts the National Satellite Data Centre (NSDC) of Finland, which receives and delivers environmental satellite data and products to end-users in Finland and all around the globe. The new and upcoming updates to the satellite data reception system enable even better services and tools for environmental monitoring in the future.
In addition, the Sodankylä facility will also be capable of receiving data from new weather satellite missions, such as EUMETSAT (Meteorological Operational Satellite – Second Generation) MetOp-SG.