The ground element is made up of several entities located in different places. It is made up of the Mission Center, the Control Center, the communication network and 2 ground stations. Crédit : Paris Observatory / CNES / LESIA

Primary ground station

The primary ground station ensures the link on board/on ground with the satellite, or in other words, the transmission of the remote controls to the satellite, the reception of the data from the satellite and the dispatch in real time of the essential surveillance information to the CoRoT control center.
The primary ground station belongs to the ICONES station network. This network consists of 2 stations located in Kiruna and Aussagel, which are compatible with the programs PROTEUS and Myriad. These stations are automatic S band to CCSDS standard, equipped with an antenna with a diameter of 3 meters under radome, and managed by the control centers.

Secondary ground station

The operational ground element is completed by a second ground station located in Brazil. This station is designed to increase the capacity of the link on board/on ground (communications with the satellite) during the calibration and the positioning of the equipment in the station, and to increase the volume capacity of the scientific data during the observation phases.
The station, located in Natal and put at disposal by the Brazilian collaborator, is similar to those made in ICONES (compatible with all the PROTEUS interfaces).

Data distribution

The validated scientific data is made available via Internet through the project archive located at IAS (Space Astrophysics Institute), Orsay, France. The scientific community associated with CoRoT has private access for one year. In the long term, the data will be forwarded to the Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center.