Svalbard Satellite Station

Svalbard Satellite Station
Svalbard satelittstasjon

Established	1997 (1997)
Research type	Satellite ground station
Location	Platåberget, Svalbard, Norway 78°13′47.18″N 15°24′28.03″E / 78.2297722°N 15.4077861°E / 78.2297722; 15.4077861Coordinates: 78°13′47.18″N 15°24′28.03″E / 78.2297722°N 15.4077861°E / 78.2297722; 15.4077861
Affiliations	Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace Norwegian Space Centre
Operating agency	Kongsberg Satellite Services

Svalbard Satellite Station (Norwegian: Svalbard satelittstasjon) or SvalSat is a satellite ground station located on Platåberget near Longyearbyen in Svalbard, Norway. Opened in 1997, it is operated by Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), a joint venture between Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and the Norwegian Space Centre (NSC). SvalSat and KSAT's Troll Satellite Station (TrollSat) in Antarctica are the only ground stations that can see a low altitude polar orbiting satellite (e.g., in sun-synchronous orbit) on every revolution as the earth rotates. The facility consists of 31 multi-mission and customer-dedicated antennas which operate in the C, L, S and X bands. The station provides ground services to more satellites than any other facility in the world.

Customers with their own installations include the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The station also reads and distributes data from the Japanese Hinode solar research satellite. The facility has seen a large increase in smaller customers after 2004, when the Svalbard Undersea Cable System started providing a fiber Internet connection. Concessions for downloading are only issued to civilian satellites, yet some data has been indirectly used by armed forces. There is a disagreement as to whether this constitutes a breach of the Svalbard Treaty.