Press release 9.11.2018

Finnish Meteorological Institute joins forces with ATLAS Space Operations in providing satellite ground station services

The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) is further developing its Artic Space Centre to support both Finnish and international Earth observation satellite communications. Taking a big leap forward, the Finnish Meteorological Institute has entered into a co-operation agreement with ATLAS Space Operations, Inc. to provide polar orbit, ground station services to ATLAS' customers – adding an additional ground site to their global Freedom Ground Network.
Kuva: Matias Takala

FMI will begin support for ATLAS' partner, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), collecting Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite data downlink. Moving forward, this international collaboration aims to further enhance our knowledge of the Artic environment and improve weather forecast accuracy on a global scale.

"Public-Private-Partnership enables cost efficient and flexible collaboration between national institutional offices" says Jyri Heilimo, Head of FMI Arctic Space Centre.

Satellite ground stations are costly investments. Collaboration such as this maximizes the efficiency of the investments for all parties, in particular the satellite operators as customers.

"Establishing this partnership with FMI is a critical step in the advancement of ATLAS's capability in the Arctic for supporting polar orbiting spacecraft" says Mike Carey, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer for ATLAS Space Operations.

FMI Arctic Space Centre operates satellite ground station is Sodankylä, Northern Finland. The northern location above Arctic circle, enables Arctic Space Centre to provide excellent support or polar orbiting satellites. FMI Arctic Space Centre operates also National Satellite Data Centre that archives Earth Observation data, disseminates satellite data and provides data processing services to Finnish users and international partners.

Atlas Space Operations, listed by Morgan Stanley as a 2017 Top 12 disruptor in the satellite industry, is a ground-to-space communications service provider. Employing a revolutionary approach to satellite communications driven by new thinking and new technology, ATLAS brings more data down from space, faster, and more affordable than ever before. For more information on ATLAS, please visit www.atlasground.com.

Additional information:

Jyri Heilimo, Head of Arctic Space Centre, tel. +358 50 568 0802, jyri.heilimo@fmi.fi

Jouni Pulliainen, Director, Space and Earth Observation Centre, jouni.pulliainen@fmi.fi

Daniel Carey, Marketing Director, ATLAS Space Operations, tel. 1-231-598-6184 ext. 105, dcarey@atlasground.com

FMI Arctic Space Centre: https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/arctic-space-centre

ATLAS Space Operations: https://www.atlasground.com/

Research professor Jouni Pulliainen (right) from Finnish Meteorological Institute and ATLAS Space Operations CSO Mike Carey signing contract for satellite ground station service provision.