Communications

For the Offshore Phase, voice, email and web services may be provided by the platform. However, this depends very much on the communications infrastructure available. Therefore, as a minimum, ESO has its own Fleet 33 satellite communication system. This is a very portable system that can be transported and deployed rapidly on any platform. Although it does not have the bandwidth of a permanently installed satellite system, it does provide phone, email and limited internet communication.

The current telephone is an Inmarsat telephone, although another telephone could be connected, for example, an Iridium telephone. Due to the cost of calls, ESO policy is to limit the use of the phone to essential calls only (related to the drilling operation or emergencies). The system has a fax capability - but ESO has not used this.

The email system is provided as a general facility with each person having their own address. For example, for Expedition 313 there were 35 registered users. The system is currently programmed to upload/download three times daily but can be done manually if required urgently. Emails are restricted in size (routinely 30-40kByte) to reduce the amount/cost of data being transmitted, and text only with no attachments, to control the file size and to reduce the possibility of a computer virus being introduced to the platform. Exceptions to this are allowed if essential and always with the cooperation of the staff scientist.

The system provides limited access to the internet, and again (due to the bandwidth) this is reserved for operations rather than personal use. It can be used for sending files to, and receiving files from, ftp sites.

For the onshore science party, internet access is provided by the University of Bremen site infrastructure. There is no specific email system provided. Scientists can access their own business or personal email sites via the internet.