Data collection from the Antarctic region through a W-band low Earth orbitsatellite

The DAVID (DAta and Video Interactive Distribution) mission is being carrie d out in the framework of the Science Small Missions Program of the Italian Space Agency. The mission is aimed at the deployment of two scientific tel ecommunication experiments through a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite. The p aper will focus on one of these experiments, that will test a satellite sys tem architecture for the exchange of a large amount of data and high defini tion images through a W-band link and a Ka-band inter-satellite link betwee n the LEO and the ARTEMIS satellite, The proposed architecture, that will e xplore various innovative aspects, will also allow for the first time the d istribution of large volumes of scientific data collected from the Antarcti c region and other extremely remote areas of the Earth. The availability of a return link in the envisaged system will also allow interactive control of the various laboratories located in the remote sites. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.