ESA's Little LEO Messaging System (LLMS) payload was launched attached to the Russian Resurs-O1 N4 Earth observation satellite on 10 July 10 1998 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. LLMS was developed under an Agency contract with SAIT Systems in Belgium heading a team of companies from Belgium, Germany, Spain and the UK. The project was financed under ESA's ARTES telecommunications programme, mainly by Belgium with a contribution from Germany. This new telecommunications system will provide a low-cost, worldwide store & forward electronic mail service, expected to be offered commercially from mid-1999 under the name of IRIS by a subsidiary of the SAIT RadioHolland Group. The photograph shows the low-cost user's terminal with its antenna. E-mail messages are loaded and retrieved using a PC or a miniature Palmtop computer.
[Image Date: 1998] [98.08.001-001]