The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicTesting began on 24 September 2004 and has been completely successful, meaning that together with Alcatel, Hispasat can begin verification of the data. Once accepted, the official commercial transfer to Hispasat can be made and full exploitation of AmerHis' capabilities will begin; some of these capabilities include high-speed Internet access, MPEG-based services, video and radio on demand, all at a much lower cost than previously possible.
The most recent In Orbit Test was performed methodically, first with dedicated down-link and up-link operations to check basic payload functions. Following this, tests were done of the signal transmission from Arganda to another ground station near Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, detailed payload signal processing checks, and finally radio-frequency parameter exploitation and signal routing. The AmerHis Operational System Validation Testbed (AOSVT) was designed especially for this test.