THOR 7 - The Complete Picture THOR 7 was launched on 26 April 2015 from the Guiana Space Centre. Image source: Telenor Satellite THOR 7 – Telenor’s pure growth satellite The THOR 7 satellite, constructed by Space Systems LORAL (SSL), was successfully launched by Telenor Satellite on 26 April 2015 from the Guiana Space Centre. Telenor Satellite’s first HTS is positioned to cover the North Sea, North Atlantic/Norwegian Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Mediterranean. The Ka-band HTS was designed for the mobile VSAT market, with 6-9Gbps of throughput and 25 spot beams. In addition to its tradition of serving the broadcast industry, Telenor has decided to target the maritime sector with THOR 7. Amy Saunders visited Telenor Satellite in Norway in February 2016 to find out more about the progress made since the launch of THOR 7, to tour Telenor’s satellite control centre and the Nittedal Teleport and to discover the company’s near-future plans. Telenor’s THOR 7 satellite was launched last year in the Morten Tengs, Telenor’s CEO, explained that although 1° West position, mainly to serve the broadcast industry. It is Telenor continues to strive ahead with new satellite capacity, a pure growth satellite with an expected lifetime of around “Assets aren’t everything. It’s everything that we build around 20 years, depending on fuel consumption. The new HTS it, like the competence and the skills. As we are still a relatively satellite cost around US$190 million in equity funding and is small player, we can respond quickly and adapt to customer insured by AON. expectations. This is very important, otherwise we would just THOR 7 uses Ka-band, which is well-suited to the mobile be a commodity.” VSAT market. It is expected to take around seven years to reach full capacity. Offering 6-9 Gbps throughput with up to Looking to the sea 25 simultaneously active spot beams, THOR 7 provides Although Telenor is a major operator in the European download speeds in the tens of Mbps, even from small broadcast market, the company is now prepared to capitalize antennas, and delivers uplink speeds anywhere up to 6Mbps on the expected growth in the maritime market as well. (depending on antenna size). Demand for reliable connections in that field is growing 10 www.satellite-evolution.com | March/April 2016 telenor.pmd 10 12/04/2016, 16:48 THOR 7 - The Complete Picture exponentially due to the increased use of IP applications. volume users such as cruisers, ferries and oil and gas supply Broadband Internet access, VoIP, video streaming, email and vessels. While commercial ships typically consume small data improved access to corporate networks are all vitally rates (250kbps), Telenor focuses on the niche market of ships important to ensure that those at sea can stay in touch with that consume much higher data rates (10-20mbps), like business operations, as well as improving the quality of life superyachts. for crew working on board offshore vessels. Crudge asserted that the limits imposed upon data Currently, the market is suffering from overcapacity, services today stem from terrestrial technology, rather than partially due to the downturn in the oil and gas industry. the satellites. THOR 7 can achieve 70/7mbps data rates, Overcapacity is expected to continue for the next 2-3 years, however, maritime antennas impose significant limits. after which a balance is expected to be reached as maritime Currently, for superyachts and ferries, anything up to 24/ data consumption grows. “We think there will be a tremendous 6mbps is possible using the current 60cm, 37kg antennas growth in data consumption in the maritime market. We have available on the market. Fishing vessels can achieve up to a good position, a good reputation, a good customer base 12/3mbps. Improvements for all consumers are expected as and a good satisfaction score, so we are very well positioned technology progresses. to be a part of that growth and increase our market share,” Telenor has also been looking at different sales models. said Tengs. He added that although the downturn in oil and By selling managed services instead of wholesale capacity, gas has impacted Telenor’s business, “We have been able to the service provider sells packages for individual ships that compensate the downturn with normal maritime business.” are more cost-effective. “We’re selling bps, rather than MHz. The main reason is that, with HTS, there are multiple spot Business split beams. The selling of individual services gives a good fill Broadcast makes up 70 percent of Telenor’s business, while factor on all the spot beams, which means a lower price. On data makes up the remaining 30 percent. Within the data the older model, where people bought capacity only, it could business, maritime comprises 70 percent of Telenor’s be ten times as expensive and with few service providers, operations. capacity would be filled quickly and prices would be high.” In Julien Crudge, Divisional Director of Network and Data principle, with managed services, the customer gets the same Services at Telenor Satellite, noted that the broadcast market service for a better price. is very stable and that, like Tengs, he expects the maritime market to more than double in the next seven years. Crudge Beta testing and commercial developments asserted that the growth would not be evenly spread. Ferries, It is essential that, prior to the start of commercial operations, for example, are not generally well-connected in terms of all satellites are thoroughly tested to ensure full functionality. Wi-Fi. “People are crying out with their tablets and The satellite itself undergoes in-orbit testing to verify that all smartphones for connectivity when they board a ferry for nine of its systems operate to design, a process that typically lasts hours, so that, for us, is a good market as there’s a lot of several months, followed by services testing with partners regional ferries. Similarly, there are around 4,000 superyachts on the ground. in the Mediterranean that can consume 5-25mbps.” Jan Hetland, Product and Services Director at Telenor Some 30 percent of global shipping operations take place Satellite explained that in orbit testing for THOR 7 was started in Telenor’s coverage area, including early adopters and high in the second half of June 2015 and ground infrastructure testing was started very soon after, including the antennas, servers and service platforms. The first commercial service was launched in August 2015 with Kongsberg Satellite Services at the Troll satellite ground station in Jutulsessen, Antarctica. The base is operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute and relays data from polar orbiting satellites to Europe and the USA. A bandwidth pipe of several hundred Mbps has existed there since the start of August 2015. During the presentation, Hetland initiated a video call with a Kongsberg Satellite Services Engineer at the Troll base, who said that THOR 7 had enabled communications with more than 99.9 percent reliability since operations started. Most recently, towards the end of 2015, Telenor launched a fixed VSAT service in the Middle East, which has now started to pick up and has more than 100 connected terminals. Meanwhile, maritime testing started in September 2015. Telenor is currently running sea trials with 7-8 beta customers, which between them have 13-14 ships. “With these ships, we’ve been able to sail through almost all of the spot beams,” said Hetland. He added that there are still a few quality issues The dedicated 13m antenna for THOR 7 located at Nittedal to resolve, but Telenor was getting closer to commercial Teleport was built by GD Satcom. Image source: Telenor operations and aimed to do so in the first half of 2016. Satellite Mechanical stress and stability issues remain ongoing www.satellite-evolution.com | March/April 2016 11 telenor.pmd 11 12/04/2016, 16:48 THOR 7 - The Complete Picture challenges, in addition to ensuring smooth operation of the showed that 70mbps/6mbps data rates were achieved. modems. According to Hetland, THOR 7 is, “Probably the most optimized HTS for the maritime community launched Telenor’s satellite control centre operations so far.” Telenor’s satellite control centre is based at its Headquarters Marlink, part of Airbus Defence and Space, took part in in Fornebu. Peter Olsen, Space Division Director explained the beta testing of THOR 7 in September 2015 with its test that THOR 10 02, THOR III, THOR 5, THOR 6 and THOR 7 lab at EIK Teleport in Kjørmoveien, Norway. Tore Morten are all controlled from the centre, which has three main Olsen, Head of Maritime Activities at Airbus Defence and functions: Space, commented on THOR 7’s Ka-band capabilities: “For us, the frequency spectrum is of less importance than the 1) To maintain the satellites within 70km wide ‘virtual boxes’ system design when it comes to the resilience and the quality for good service and collision avoidance. Each satellite of the service. Price per mbps is important, but only so long requires 2.5-4kg/month of fuel to maintain its position in as the service quality is respectable. Service quality has more orbit with a geostationary arc of ±0.05°C. The orbit can to do with the system design than the frequency spectrum.” be perturbed by non-uniform gravity from the moon and The existing test bed was changed from GX to Ka; the the sun; GX modem was changed to an iDirect X7, upon which velocity 2) To maintain altitude and pointing; and software was installed and a 24 port switch was installed 3) To ensure the good health of the payload and all of the between the ACU and the iDirect X7.