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Real-Time Satellite Remote Sensing with the MAGIC Direct Broadcast Receiving Station at the University of Texas at Austin

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Real-Time Satellite Remote Sensing with the MAGIC Direct Broadcast Receiving Station at the University of Texas at Austin

Gordon Wells
Center for Space Research
University of Texas at Austin

Abstract
In April, the Center for Space Research will celebrate the second anniversary of the operation of the largest receiving facility for satellite remote sensing in the South-Central USA. CSR operates three receiving systems using a 1.5-meter antenna (S/L-band), 2.4-meter antenna (X-band) and 4.5-meter antenna (X-band). The ground station receives approximately 70 gigabytes of telemetry each day from 14 different Earth observation satellites and 30-40 collections of data over Texas during every 24-hour cycle. The receiving station distributes near real-time data to a range of federal, state, and university-based organizations to aid their crisis management, environmental assessment, treaty enforcement and strategic planning missions. Areas of current research and application development include air quality assessment, irrigation monitoring, crop compliance monitoring, water quality analysis and detection of oil spills, red tide outbreaks, and toxic waste releases. In 2006, the station will expand to provide the Central North American reception site for the German DLR TerraSAR-X mission that will capture high-resolution (1-2 meter) radar imagery.