Page 92 - SAMENA Trends - January-February 2023

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Argentina’s ARSAT Takes Delivery of Satellite-Based IoT Solution

view important data on areas of concern
such as rainfall and river levels or wildfire
threats, deforestation, water scarcity,
earthquakes and volcanoes. Sensor data
can be collected and transmitted using
satellite IoT connectivity solutions for
analysis. The IoT solution also offers
ARSAT the flexibility to move quickly
into other markets such as oil and gas,
energy, mining, fleet management and
construction, as and when demand permits.
ST Engineering iDirect’s system integration
partner Technology Bureau will help ARSAT
to seamlessly integrate the IoT solution
Satellite communications company ST technology from ST Engineering iDirect’s into its existing ST Engineering iDirect hub
Engineering iDirect has delivered its strategic partner hiSky, which brings infrastructure. “This new technology adds
flagship Internet of Things (IoT) solution to innovative technology to the field of voice value to our fleet of geostationary satellites,
ARSAT, the national telecommunications and data satellite communications. This ARSAT-1 and ARSAT-2, which were
company of Argentina. ARSAT provides will enable ARSAT to tackle a range of in- launched in 2014 and 2015 respectively,”
wholesale connectivity to bridge the digital country challenges across vertical markets. says Guillermo Rus, Vice President, ARSAT.
divide between towns and cities across Applications include the implementation “We are currently carrying out tests of
the country. The company has identified of fleet tracking solutions and more this innovative product with very good
the requirement for satellite-based IoT efficient farming practices. For example, results and we hope to carry out the first
services that enable businesses and the solution will permit the collection of implementations in the coming months.
organizations in remote areas to take critical data from sensors located on farms Among the use cases under evaluation are
advantage of sensor technology and Big for the monitoring of everything from soil a hydrometeorological monitoring network,
Data management developments. The IoT moisture to the health of livestock and the connectivity for research ships, marine
solution incorporates an IoT-optimized condition of farm vehicles. IoT services will buoys, and a monitoring system for the
waveform and a cloud-based network also provide an invaluable tool for disaster road network.”
management system (NMS) powered by recovery and mitigation, enabling users to

SpaceX to Launch Amelia Earhart Satellite for Improved GPS Services

SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the GPS III-6 satellite
for the United States Air Force. The satellite is also named Amelia
Earhart, after the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic
Ocean and later disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean.
With the new satellite, GPS users around the world will benefit
from improved positioning, navigation, and timing services. The
launch is due at noon UTC from Cape Canaveral. The first launch
we got last week was the Ceres-1 rocket carrying five satellites. It’s
a rocket developed by the private Chinese firm Galactic Energy. It
launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and delivered
the satellites to low Earth orbit. Next, we got Virgin Orbit’s Start Me
Up mission which launched from the UK. The Cosmic Girl aircraft
released the LauncherOne rocket mid-flight. The mission was ulti-
mately a failure after the rocket came crashing to Earth. Next up, a
Falcon 9 carried 40 OneWeb satellites to orbit from Cape Canaver-
al where they will be used to beam internet back to Earth. Later in from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. They are both remote
the week, a Long March 2C took off from Xichang Satellite Launch sensing satellites that will perform various tasks including space
Center carrying the APStar-6E satellite which will provide telecom- environment monitoring, urban planning, smog detection and
munication services in Southeast Asia. Also blasting off from Chi- more. Finally, a Long March 2D took off from the Taiyuan Satellite
na was a Long March 2D carrying Yaogan-37 and Shiyan-22A/B Launch Center carrying 14 satellites into space.

92 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2023