SATELLITE 2010 (a conference and exhibition event) took place in Washington DC from the 15th – 18th March and was one of the most important get togethers of those involved in the satellite industry during the year. It was attended by over 9,000 business leaders and industry professionals from around the world and included an Isle of Man delegation.
One of the highlights of the event was an announcement during a key note presentation that three of the world’s top operators have decided to join the Space Data Association (SDA) based in the Isle of Man.
The SDA is a non-profit company and is the first satellite operator-led association dedicated to sharing critical operational data in support of satellite operations, improving flight safety and preserving the space environment.
In November 2009 global satellite operators SES S.A., Intelsat Ltd., and Inmarsat plc, together with Isle of Man company ManSat Limited, announced that they had founded the SDA. The announcement on 16th March revealed that Telesat, Eutelsat and GE Sat also intend to join.
The key elements of the new project will be:
• secure, distributed, high availability system
• reliably sharing critical operational data
• collision avoidance monitoring
• radio interference reduction.
The SDA is expected to become fully operational in November 2010. Tenders for construction of the complex database that will underpin the system are currently being considered.
