Europe's Proba-V Satellite Tracks Aircraft in Flight

摘要

Europe's Proba-V satellite, launched May 7, has successfully demonstrated that it can capture data on aircraft speed, position and altitude, the German and European space agencies announced June 13. Flying in a polar orbit at 820 kilometers in altitude, Proba-V on May 23 switched on its Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) receiver and within two hours had harvested more than 12,000 ADS-B messages being emitted by aircraft flying below, the two agencies said.