ASTRA 3B // Simon Norfolk
Summary:
I saw two shooting stars last night,
I wished on them
– but they were only satellites.
It's wrong to wish on space hardware,
but I wish, I wish I wish you'd care.
-Billy Bragg
At any one time there are about 8,000 objects orbiting the earth. One is the moon which has been there a Very Long Time: the rest are man-made satellites; junk fallen from satellites; bits of exploded satellite or redundant satellites waiting to fall back to earth. Since the launch of 'Sputnik' in 1957 humans have put 24,500 things into orbit. Just because it's called 'space' doesn't mean it isn't downright busy up there.
Satellite production and launch is becoming a huge part of the global economy; in fact a satellite in orbit was described to me by somebody in the industry as 'a great big money tap in the sky.' Communications, navigation, transportation and a great deal of scientific research would grind to a halt without them. They are one of the things that make globalisation possible. This is not to forget that the military of the advanced nations who crave satellite space for secure communications, surveillance and electronic eavesdropping. Only with a vast array of satellites can a USAF 'pilot' in Nevada remotely fly and fire missiles from a Predator drone somewhere over Pakistan.
Despite their importance, to my knowledge, no artist has ever been asked to look at the entire production process of one of these satellites from manufacture and testing; to command and control right through to picturing the rocket on the pad. The world's biggest commercial satellite operator, SES Astra, permitted me to follow the launch campaign of their Astra 3B, one of the biggest satellites ever launched but otherwise an everyday, common-or-garden satellite tasked with reflecting digital TV signals down onto Germany and Holland. It would be built mostly in Toulouse, flown from Betzdorf in Luxembourg and launched from the huge space complex at Kourou in French Guiana on the north coast of South America. Given my interest in all things military, I was delighted to discover that nestled beneath Astra on the double launch chassis commonly used by the colossal Ariane rocket, would be COMSAT Bw-2, a 'communications' satellite for the German armed forces.
Burning through a tonne of fuel every second (!) it blasted off from Kourou in the middle of 2010. After 500 seconds it was out of gas and within a half hour successfully positioned in high orbit. Astra's up there now, in a highly elliptical loop; sometimes 36,000 km away and sometimes swooping down to just 250km above our heads. Should you want to watch 350 channels of TV in Germany, Astra will bring them directly into your home. What remains on earth is an extraordinary and unique photographic record.
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If you are interested in this feature or to commission London based Simon please do not hesitate to contact Matt Shonfeld - matt@instituteartistmanagement.com Tel: +44 1225-462-968
