Andrew Rankin
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, October 15, 2009
http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/oct15_09sat.html
[excerpt]
INUVIK - Since late August Inuvik has been the home of the Canadian Arctic's only remote sensing satellite receiver that's able to pick up images from all around the globe, and is thought to be an important tool in sustainable development research.
The dish has a 31-ton antenna located at the Upper Air site. It is part of a global network of three such stations in the world. The other stations are located in Sweden and Norway.
 A team of workers assembles the remote sensing satellite receiver at the Upper Air site, last August. - photo courtesy of Peter Clarkson |
The Natural Resources Canada is a major stakeholder in the ground station which involves both public and private investment.
Stuart Salter, the department's director general for the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, said Inuvik was chosen as the site for the dish because it's in a perfect location to receive the images from remote sensing satellites that fly in near-polar orbit, about 600 to 800 km from the Earth.
"They download an enormous amount of data," said Salter. "What we really, really care about is information about Canada.
"Inuvik is almost ideal in its geographic location. It's a long way north, it has road access, it has power. It has all the things that you need."
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