”A milestone in satellite surveillance”

”The Norwegian satellite station TrollSat is a milestone in satellite surveillance of the environment”, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said when opening TrollSat at the Norwegian research station Troll in Queen Maud Land in the Antarctic today.

The new satellite station offers better and quicker access to vital climate, environment and weather data. The data will be used in research and in other environment surveillance.

”This station will cooperate with the SvalSat station in Svalbard, creating a pole-to-pole solution offering quicker information”, Stoltenberg said.

TrollSat has been built by Norwegian Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT) and is located at the Troll research station. KSAT works closely with the Norwegian Polar Institute, and it is infrastructure established in the Antarctic by the Polar Institute and the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment that has made TrollSat possible.

The Norwegian Polar Institute will use satellite data received at TrollSat in their research programmes in the Antarctic. The data will offer important information to research programmes in the International Polar Year, as mapping and surveillance of Antarctic glaciers and sea ice.

TrollSat will initially receive data from the European Space Agency (ESA) satellite ”Envisat” and also from several of the US space agency NASA’s satellites. 

Expansion plans in the Antarctic
Prime Minister Stoltenberg today also laid the foundation stone for the Galileo station next to TrollSat. The station will be ready in 2009. 

The Galileo station in the Antarctic will be part of the European navigation system Galileo, which will be operational in 2013 and be based on space satellites.

“Galileo is one of Europe’s most important space projects. We will use it to produce good satellite-based navigation systems. In that way this southern satellite station is part of Norway’s High North policy. The station will offer better navigation also in the Arctic region”, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said.

The Norwegian Galileo station in the Antarctic will be vital to the network as there are few alternatives there. Norway’s initial contribution has been NOK 10 million and an additional NOK 120 million will be invested in developing the station.