Satellite returning to Earth has Forres connections

STAR GAZERS could tonight (Friday) see a satellite due to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere in the sky above Moray.

The satellite’s possible trajectory path may see it appear in Forres, home to Scotland Electronics International Ltd (SEIL), a company involved in the international space programme.

SEIL designed and built the super computer (a High Performance Cluster) for the European Space Agency (ESA) at Esrin in Italy.

Twice a day since 2004 the Envisat satellite, due to fall to earth this evening, has beamed back data to Esrin in Italy.

The data was received and stored in the High Performance Cluster made by Forres company SEIL.

Scientists have been studying the data to analyse the effects of climate change, and in particular the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica.

Overall a total of 140 gigabytes of data was derived from Envisat daily, equivalent to 50 terabytes a year – enough paper to fill the largest library on Earth, the United States Library of Congress, more than two times over.

This is not the first time SEIL has been involved in the international space programme. For over three decades SEIL have manufactured electronics for CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, who recently recreated the ‘big bang’ in a black hole experiment.

Working with Intel, who have designated SEIL as an ‘Intel Premier Provider’, and with CERN’s specifications, SEIL designed, constructed and delivered 2700 in number server computers, made up of computational and storage systems. SEIL also provided the maintenance facilities by working closely with a locally based company.

Moray Chamber Chief Executive, Lesley Ann Parker, said: “ It is very encouraging that a business in Moray is already exploiting the economic potential of space-related activity.

"We need to see more activity of this kind to show the UK Government that we want to engage in their future strategic plans.

"As well as its clear skies and open spaces, Moray has the physical infrastructure and skills base to support this," she added.

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