Digital Frontiers

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Extraterrestrial Communication

Expertise in antennas on Earth has led some Spanish companies to branch out into space. The company Rymsa was founded in 1974, specializing in antennas and today still has a successful terrestrial antenna business. In 1988, Rymsa began producing antennas that could broadcast from the first Spanish satellites. “From that moment on,” says Andrés Nubla, head of Rymsa’s space division, “we’ve participated in more than 200 satellites and have delivered more than 2,000 pieces for onboard activities.”

The company developed antennas that help locate the satellite in the correct orbiting position for many customers around the world, including the European Space Agency and Lockheed Martin. They’re currently developing antennas for the European Mercury launch. Temperatures on Mercury can soar to heights of around 400° or 450°C, which renders aluminum, the typical space-antenna material, unusable. Rymsa is developing prototypes made of titanium and silver plating for the launch.

Mier also began as a television antenna company, founded by CEO Pedro Mier’s father and uncle more than half a century ago. Mier, then a university professor, began collaborating with other research groups to advance the company’s technology. They looked to the upcoming digital TV revolution and developed signal translators used today in Europe, the US, and around the world.

Mier engineers have also developed technology for low noise amplification for both communications and research satellites. This translates into the ability to reach a satellite from a small mobile handset, or for the satellite to receive and process scientific signals. In the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) Satellite, a project of the European Space Agency, sensors testing salinity in the ocean send information that Mier technology helps amplify and process.

The company is now combining expertise in space and terrestrial applications for hybrid television coverage—satellite coverage for rural areas in coordination with terrestrial repeater antennas for cities.
One company, GMV, has moved its operations in the opposite direction: from space to land. Founded in 1984 to support the European Space Agency in the analysis and design of missions, today the company is active in ground control and data processing for all types of satellites and for Galileo, the European global navigation satellite system. GMV recently moved into the American market and has customized a mission planning system for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, a new NASA back-to-the-moon mission launched in June.

“We’ve used our technology and expertise in space to meet the needs of what is today another significant part of the company, the transportation market,” says Jesús Serranno, GMV’s CEO, as the company is now one of the Spanish leaders in information systems that use satellites to coordinate buses and trains.

“Spanish companies are dynamic and creative,” says Jesús Banegas of AETIC. “The Internet has changed the rules in information technology, and the most important aspect of a company is not its size. Instead, it’s the ability to innovate and find solutions.”

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