Cape Town the Hub for Antarctica Troll Satellite Tacking Station
12 July 2006
Due to the increased activities of the National, International and Antarctic communities, Cape Town is fast becoming the "hub" for supplying to the various Antarctic Research Stations. Petrel Engineering (Pty) Ltd., a Cape Town based company, has again been commissioned by a Norwegian supplier, Cape Mitra, to manufacture the complete base platform for a satellite antenna tracking system at the Norwegian Research Station "Troll" in Antarctica and a second Petrel platform, is scheduled for completion early in 2006.
Petrel's track record and experience in the building of the RSA Sanae IV Research Station also located in Antarctica, as well as part of the Marion Island Research Base, was ideally suited to "take on" yet another prominent project in the Polar Region. Together with Consulting Engineer Knut Lind, the team at Petrel have manufactured, in record time, the complex base platform on which the satellite tracking systems are mounted.
The platform is to be erected at the summit of Mt Nonshogda, at an altitude of 1400m, and when completed will have a diameter of 10m. The modular sections are supplied in a dismantled form and can be bolted together again making transportation to the site, as well as installation quicker and easier. The total "start to finish" time frame given for this project is 6 months. and in order to achieve the completion time during the small summer window in Antarctica, a flexible Petrel Gantry Crane is required to lift the satellite tracking components into place.
The new "Troll" antenna is the first step towards a complete tracking and receiving station for polar orbiting satellites. These circle the earth much closer than other satellites providing higher resolution imagery. Information gathered from polar satellites can be processed in less than one hour after acquisition, assisting International Government Agencies such as NASA and the European Space Agency, as well as the marine and agricultural industries with meteorological information, flood mapping, iceberg movement and oil spills to name but a few.
The British and German Governments continue with their involvement in the development and building of new Research Centres in Antarctica and Petrel hopes to be an integral part of these projects – thus securing work for South Africa.
