To analyze global animal movements from space and to understand how large numbers of animals and their movements interact with ecosystems: the ICARUS antenna system on the International Space Station (ISS) will allow researchers from around the world to investigate animal migrations via transmitters. ICARUS commenced operations on Wednesday, 10 July 2019. This marks the beginning of an approximately four-month-long test phase, during which all systems are checked and technical issues are resolved. ICARUS is expected to be ready for use by international researchers in the fall/winter of 2019.
ICARUS is a joint project between the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz and the University of Konstanz in cooperation with the Russian space agency Roscosmos and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The animal movement data collected by ICARUS are freely available in the existing Movebank database. The Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK) of Baden-Württemberg recently approved the “Movebank 2.0” project, which will further develop the database for the processing of more complex and larger quantities of data.
“ICARUS will help us answer important questions about the animals on our planet: Which migratory routes do they follow? Under what conditions do they live? And how can we best protect them?”, explains project leader Professor Martin Wikelski, director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and honorary professor at the University of Konstanz.
Signals released by miniature transmitters attached to animals are received by ICARUS on the ISS. As a result of its positioning in space, the ICARUS antenna is able to collect animal movement data from around the world. Not only will researchers be able to use this data to identify migration routes across countries and continents, but this information will also enhance their understanding of the animals’ previously hidden interactions with the ecological environment: by collecting and consolidating the movement patterns of thousands of animals, ICARUS creates a map of the interactions between the animals and their habitats on our planet.
