April 25th, 2018
[Press Release]

Start of the Satellite Ground Network Services
PASCO to provide rental service for Satellite Ground Station facilities andoperation system
PASCO CORPORATION (Headquarters: Tokyo, Japan; President and CEO, Kenichi
Furukawa, hereinafter referred to as PASCO) will soon begin “Ground Station Network
Service (Rental Services)” by utilizing two satellite ground stations located in Itoman City,Okinawa, and Chitose City, Hokkaido. PASCO will provide facilities and operational
capabilities for the wide range of satellite operators and rocket companies.
“Satellite Ground Network Service” offers tracking and satellite operational services using
ground stations for expanding the space business market.
■ Background
On May 29, 2017, the Japanese Government published its “Space Industrial Vision 2030”,
and stated that the Space Industry will be one of the most growing industries for promoting
the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Japan. The decreasing cost of the satellite manufacturing
and launching cost have resulted in growing number of private sectors entering the satellite
utilization service market. Also, private companies including ventures are starting to provide
satellites and rocket launch services. Due to these trends, there is a further need for groundstations to provide an environment to download satellite’s Big Data from anywhere, anytime
in the world.
PASCO has been operating Okinawa Satellite Ground Station since 2007 and Hokkaido
Ground Station since 2011, having experience in downlinking satellite data, operating
satellites and tracking rockets.
In addition to our current services, we hope to meet the market’s demands with our“Satellite Ground Network Service.”■ Service Outline
The Satellite Ground Station serves as a crucial
link between earth orbiting satellites and groundsurface. But in order to operate a ground station,
enormous investment, such as acquiring the landfor operation, establishment of equipment andoperation system, and furthermore high technicalexpertise and know-how are essential.
－ 1/3 －Also, communication periods between satellite and ground station are limited to when asatellite passes over the ground station. Therefore, it is necessary to establish network
communication opportunities with multiple ground stations around the world.
The two ground stations owned by PASCO can be accessed when the satellite passes overthe Far East area including the entire area of Japan.
To ensure launch safety, rockets launched from Japan must face the sea, which means thatmany rockets often fly within visible ranges of PASCO’s ground stations. By taking advantage
of such geographical features, we are capable to provide rocket tracking services.

＜Service Menu＞
PASCO owns and operates 7.3m and 5.5m antennas with radomes at Okinawa groundstation, and 7.5m antenna with radome in Hokkaido ground station.
By using these ground stations, PASCO is able to send command transmissions, receive
Telemetry, Tracking, and Command (TT&C) and direct data reception of the earth
observation data.

① Command Transmission (Sends observation commands to satellite)
Commands prepared by customer’s operation center are sent to a ground station via
ground network. Then, the modulated and power-amplified radio waves (S band) aretransmitted to a satellite in space.
② Telemetry Data Reception (Receives satellite function monitoring data)
Receives radio waves (S band) from a satellite and transmits the demodulated data tocustomer’s operation center via ground network.

－ 2/3 －③ Earth Observation Data Reception (Receives remote sensing data from a satellite)
Receives earth observation data (X band) and transmits the demodulated data tocustomer’s data center via ground network.
④ Rocket Telemetry Data Reception (Receive telemetry data from a rocket)
Receives telemetry data (S band) from a rocket and transmits the demodulated data tocustomer’s data center via ground network.
■ Past performances and experiences
Our satellite ground stations have been providing services such as data downlink andsatellites operations for the satellites of Airbus Defense and Space (France and Germany, theAirbus Group) as listed below:
TerraSAR-X series (TerraSAR-X & TanDEM-X）
Pleiades series（Pleiades 1A & Pleiades 1B）
SPOT series（SPOT 6 & SPOT 7）
For currently operating ASNARO-1 satellite, PASCO has been implementing satellite
control, downlinking data from its satellite control center for more than three years.
Also, PASCO performed the tracking of H2-A 37 Rocket launched on December 23, 2017,and 3rd Epsilon rocket launched on January 18, 2018. Downlinked telemetry data wastransmitted to Tanegashima Space Center as part of support activity for the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA).
■ PASCO Satellite Business
PASCO started the satellite-based geospatial information business in 2005, and further
expanded its full-fledged business after the launching of TerraSAR-X in 2007.
As of the end of January 2018, PASCO possess the rights to utilize 24 commercial satellites
operated around the world, selling satellite imagery worldwide and providing solution
services by utilizing satellite data such as for the landslide monitoring, ground deformation
monitoring, urban change analysis and agricultural land management etc.

■ Contact
PASCO CORPORATION

https://www.pasco.co.jp/eng/

Public Relations Department: mail：webmaster@pasco.co.jp
Satellite Business Division:

TEL：+81 3-5465-7370－ 3/3 －