ESA TV Footage — info on feed 28 March 2001
The next ESA TV Footage feed will be transmitted on
Wednesday 28 March 2001
11:00-12:00 GMT — 13:00-14:00 CEST — 12:00-13:00 BST
Please note the transmission parameters below.
The ESA TV footage feed includes the following three items:
Europe and Space Debris B-roll (4 minutes, 11:00-11:05 GMT): Every satellite in orbit is threatened by any of the over 150.000 particles of space debris that populate the near-Earth space and are remnants of past satellites and launcher missions. Even a minuscule particle can cause huge damage because its speed is 28000 km/hour – ten times that of a bullet and hundred times its energy. Today, the danger is real that the more satellites are launched, the more debris accumulates.
On 19-21 March, experts from around the world gathered at the 3rd European Conference on Space Debris at the European Space Agency’s Operations Centre, ESOC in Darmstadt (Germany). They discussed likely causes of space debris, its potential danger and means to avoid it.
The worst cause of space debris is exploding upper rocket stages and satellites. This can be avoided by careful design, where such objects are depressurised after use. Then, the geo-stationary orbit 36000 km above the Earth, where all television satellites are positioned, is getting ever more crowded. Satellites should be ejected out of their orbit, into a so-called graveyard orbit which is 300 km higher, at the end of their life. Likewise, satellites in low Earth orbit should be se-orbited at the end of their life. Also, the ejection of bigger pieces like protective lids, and the detachment of small particles from the surfaces of satellites should be avoided through an appropriate design.
This item was first transmitted on 19 March 2001 and includes 4 minutes of B-roll material with clean international sound.
Space Debris (16 minutes, 11:05-11:21 GMT) This item is an edited video on the space debris issue, produced for the European Conference on Space Debris. It includes more footage than the B-roll above, and carries an English voiceover. The item has not yet been transmitted by the ESA TV Service.
Satellite navigation–why Galileo? (26 minutes, 11:30-11:56 GMT) This ESA TV Exchange is made of a 4-minute A-roll and a 22-minute B-roll. The A-roll outlines the functioning and the limitations of the US-American GPS systemn and what the proposed civilian, European system Galileo, would contribute to the safety of transport, notably commercial air traffic and cars. The B-roll includes a wide variety of additional footage on all modes of transport: air, land, sea and maritime. The item has not yet been transmitted by the ESA TV Service.
The transmission parameters are:
Eutelsat W1, 10 degrees East
Transponder B5, channel 2 (digital, horizontal),
F=11.14375 MHz, SR=5.632 MS/sec, FEC=3/4
For further information and a daily update of the transmission schedule, visit our website at http://television.esa.int. For all enquires, contact Claus Habfast, Tel +31 71 565 3838, Fax +31 71 565 6340, e-mail chabfast@hq.esa.fr
