History

The University of Miami Satellite Command and Control Facility (SCCF) was established in 1976 on Virginia Key, FL by means of National Science Foundation (NSF) assistance grants to the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) to provide voice and data communications via satellite for ocean-going and land-based scientific purposes. Initial services were provided via the Government-furnished Applications Technology Satellites (ATS-1, ATS-3). Collateral support was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), first for experimental access, and subsequently (beginning in 1982) for direct funding support to the University of Miami for hardware, software, engineering, and operations for the satellite command/control of ATS-3. In 1979 the ground station was moved to Malabar, FL (about 150 miles north of Miami) with network connections to Miami. Routine operations continued at the Malabar site until fall, 2001. Preparation of a new facility in Richmond, FL, the Richmond Satellite Operations Center (RSOC) or CSTARS Communications, began in Spring 2000 and operations were phased in during fall, 2001. Starting with 2005, operations with the South Pole became an integrated part of the CSTARS, as the communications facility. Currently, the facility is used to support voice and data communications with the U.S. Antarctic Amundsen Scott South Pole station and summer field camps. In June of 2004, the Raytheon Polar Services Company assumed the administration of the Antarctic Program support contract.

GOES

GOES-3 communications using the 9-meter South Pole Marisat-GOES Terminal (SPMGT) began in 2002. This platform also has the smaller GOES-3 backup antenna. Photo by Nicolas S. Powell, NSF, 2002.

eldrome

Aerial photograph of the South Pole Marisat-GOES Terminal (SPMGT) antenna in its radome in October, 2005. Photo by Scot Jackson, NSF.