Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, or SSTL, is a company involved in the manufacture and operation of
small satellite
A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites ca ...
s. A spin-off company of the
University of Surrey
The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...
, it is presently wholly owned by
Airbus Defence and Space
Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...
.
The company began out of research efforts centred upon
amateur radio satellite
An amateur radio satellite is an artificial satellite built and used by amateur radio operators. It forms part of the Amateur-satellite service. These satellites use amateur radio frequency allocations to facilitate communication between amate ...
s, known by the UoSAT (University of Surrey Satellite) name or by an
OSCAR
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology), ...
(Orbital Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio) designation. SSTL was founded in 1985, following successful trials on the use of
commercial off-the-shelf
Commercial off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...
(COTS) components on satellites, cumulating in the
''UoSat-1'' test satellite. It funds research projects with the university's
Surrey Space Centre
The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...
, which does research into
satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
and
space
Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...
topics.
In April 2008, the University of Surrey agreed to sell its majority share in the company to European multinational conglomerate
EADS Astrium
Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18 ...
. In August 2008, SSTL opened a US subsidiary, which included both offices and a production site in
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
;
["Surrey Satellite Technology US opens for business."]
, SSTL press release, 5 August 2008. in 2017, the company decided to discontinue manufacturing activity in the US, winding up this subsidiary.
[
SSTL was awarded the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement in 1998, and the ]Queen's Awards for Enterprise
The Queen's Awards for Enterprise is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation, sustainable development or promoting opportunity (through social mobility). They are the highest ...
in 2005. In 2006 SSTL won the ''Times Higher Education
''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education.
Ownership
TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
'' award for outstanding contribution to innovation and technology. In 2009, SSTL ranked 89 out of the 997 companies that took part in the ''Sunday Times Top 100 companies to work for''.
In 2020, SSTL started the creation of a telecommunications spacecraft called Lunar Pathfinder
The Commercial Lunar Mission Support Services (CLMSS), also called Lunar Mission Support Services era, access to space was effectively the privilege of a handful of superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural s ...
s; by the 1970s, only the most affluent of countries could afford to engage in space programmes due to extreme complexity and expenses involved. Despite the exorbitant costs to produce and launch, early satellites could only offer limited functionality, having no ability to be reprogrammed once in orbit. During the late 1970s, a group of researchers at the University of Surrey, headed by Martin Sweeting, were experimenting with the use of commercial off-the-shelf
Commercial off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...
(COTS) components in satellite construction; if found viable, such techniques would be highly disruptive to the established satellite industry.
The team's first satellite, UoSAT-1
UoSAT-1, also known as UoSAT-OSCAR 9 (UO-9), was a British amateur radio satellite which orbited Earth. It was built at the University of Surrey and launched into low Earth orbit on 6 October 1981. It exceeded its anticipated two-year orbital lif ...
, was assembled in a small university lab, using in a cleanroom fabricated from B&Q and integrating printed circuit boards
A printed circuit board (PCB; also printed wiring board or PWB) is a medium used in electrical and electronic engineering to connect electronic components to one another in a controlled manner. It takes the form of a laminated sandwich struct ...
designed by hand on a kitchen table. In 1981, UoSAT-1 was launched with NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
's aid; representing the first modern reprogrammable small satellite, it outlived its planned three-year life by more than five years. Having successfully demonstrated that relatively compact and inexpensive satellites could be rapidly built to perform sophisticated missions, the team decided to take further steps to commercialise their research.
During 1985, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) was founded in Guildford
Guildford ()
is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
, Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
as a spin-off venture from the university. Since its founding, it has steadily grown, having worked with numerous international customers to launch over 70 satellites over the course of three decades.
Growth and restructuring
In 2002, SSTL moved into remote sensing
Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...
services with the launch of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation
The Disaster Monitoring Constellation for International Imaging (DMCii) or just Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) consists of a number of remote sensing satellites constructed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) and operated for the A ...
(DMC) and an associated child company, DMC International Imaging
DMC International Imaging (DMCii) is the company that manages the Disaster Monitoring Constellation for the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters. It also sells satellite imaging services under contract and manages the operations of s ...
. Some of these satellites also include other imaging payloads and experimental payloads: onboard hardware-based image compression (on BilSAT), a GPS reflectometry experiment and onboard Internet router (on the UK-DMC satellite). The DMC satellites are notable for communicating with their ground stations using the Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet.
IP h ...
for payload data transfer and command and control, so extending the Internet into space, and allowing experiments with the Interplanetary Internet to be carried out. Many of the technologies used in the design of the DMC satellites, including Internet Protocol use, were tested in space beforehand on SSTL's earlier UoSAT-12 satellite
UoSAT-12 is a British satellite in Low Earth Orbit. It is the twelfth satellite in the University of Surrey series and was designed and built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL). It was launched into orbit in April 1999 on board a Dnepr r ...
.[K. Hogie, ''et al''.]
Putting more Internet nodes in space
, CSC World, Computer Sciences Corporation, pp. 21-23, April/June 2006.
During June 2004, American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
private space company SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...
arranged to acquire a 10% stake in SSTL from Surrey University; speaking on the purchase, Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...
stated: "SSTL is a high-quality company that is probably the world leader in small satellites. We look at this as more a case of similar corporate cultures getting together". The University of Surrey then awarded Musk an honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
. In April 2008, the University of Surrey agreed to sell its majority share in SSTL, roughly 80% of the company's capital, to European multinational conglomerate EADS Astrium
Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18 ...
. SSTL has remained an independent entity despite all shares having been purchased by Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
, the parent company of EADS Astrium.
During 2005, SSTL completed construction of '' GIOVE-A1'', the first test satellite for Europe's Galileo
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
space navigation system. In 2010 and 2012, the firm was awarded contracts to supply 22 navigation payloads for Galileo, the last of which was delivered during 2016. During 2017, SSTL was awarded a contract to supply a further 12 payloads; this was viewed as a coup in light of the political backdrop surrounding Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
.
During the 2010s, SSTL has been working on various improvements in its satellite technology, such as synthetic-aperture radar
Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target region to provide fine ...
(SAR) as well as smaller and lighter units. According to Luis Gomes, SSTL's head of Earth observation, micro-satellites translate to a lower cost of design, construction and launch, albeit at a cost of a more frequent failure rate, in comparison to larger and more costly units. These features has been marketed towards customers such as the DMC.
In summer 2008, Surrey formed an American subsidiary, ''Surrey Satellite Technology-US'', in Englewood, Colorado
The City of Englewood is a home rule municipality located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 33,659 at the 2020 United States Census. Englewood is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Stati ...
, intent on serving US customers in the smallsat
A small satellite, miniaturized satellite, or smallsat is a satellite of low mass and size, usually under . While all such satellites can be referred to as "small", different classifications are used to categorize them based on mass. Satellites ca ...
market. In June 2017, SSTL announced their intention to close their Colorado satellite manufacturing facility, opting to instead consolidate all of its manufacturing activity in the UK. Sarah Parker, SSTL's managing director, said that the rapid growth of new competing firms in the small satellite sector had changed the marketplace, necessitating reorganisation, which has included the increased use of outsourcing
Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...
.
Satellites
* Eutelsat Quantum satellite platform, consisting of a central thrust tube housing a bipropellant chemical propulsion system, GEO momentum wheels and gyro. Designed to be reconfigurable via software definitions, enabling it to change roles and functions. Delivered to Airbus in Toulouse during January 2019 for assembly and testing. Quantum is SSTL's first geostationary satellite platform.
* COSMIC-2/FORMOSAT-7 for National Space Organization
The National Space Organization (NSPO or NSO) is the national civilian space agency of the Republic of China (Taiwan), part of the National Applied Research Laboratories under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology (Taiwan), ...
(Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
) and NOAA (US). Atmospheric limb sounding by GNSS radio occultation
Radio occultation (RO) is a remote sensing technique used for measuring the physical properties of a planetary atmosphere or ring system.
Atmospheric radio occultation
Atmospheric radio occultation relies on the detection of a change in a radio ...
, ionospheric
The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays a ...
research; follow-on mission to COSMIC/FORMOSAT-3.
* VESTA-1 a technology demonstration mission for Honeywell
Honeywell International Inc. is an American publicly traded, multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It primarily operates in four areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance ma ...
launched December 2018 that will test a new two-way VHF Data Exchange System (VDES) payload for the exactEarth advanced maritime satellite constellation. Launched 3 December 2018.
* NovaSAR-1:- Part funded by UK Government, S-Band SAR Payload supplied by Airbus Defence &Space. Incorporates an S-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar to help monitor suspicious shipping activity. Launched on 16 September 2018, by ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...
.
* RemoveDEBRIS
RemoveDEBRIS was a satellite research project intending to demonstrate various space debris removal technologies. The mission was led by the Surrey Space Centre from the University of Surrey with the satellite's platform manufactured by Surrey Sa ...
: Active Debris Removal (ADR) technology demonstration in 2018 (e.g. capture, deorbiting) representative of an operational scenario during a low-cost mission using novel key technologies. RemoveDebris will deploy a representative small satellite and then will recapture and de-orbit it. Launched on 2 April 2018 to the International Space Station, deployed from the KIBO airlock on the ISS in June 2018.
* Telesat LEO prototype satellite for Telesat
Telesat, formerly Telesat Canada, is a Canadian satellite communications company founded on May 2, 1969. The company is headquartered in Ottawa.
History
Telesat began as Telesat Canada, a Canadian Crown corporation created by an Act of Parli ...
as part of a test and validation phase for an advanced, global LEO satellite constellation. Launched January 2018.
* CARBONITE-2
The Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre (DIFC) is based at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire. Largely created from the staff of the National Imagery Exploitation Centre (formerly known as the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre (JARIC)) and th ...
, an Earth Observation technology demonstration mission owned and operated by SSTL and launched January 2018 which successfully demonstrated video-from-orbit capability.
* TripleSat: A Constellation of 3 Earth observation satellites imaging at 1m resolution. Image data leased to Chinese company 21AT.
* Five RapidEye
RapidEye AG was a German geospatial information provider focused on assisting in management decision-making through services based on their own Earth-observation imagery. The company operated a five-satellite constellation producing 5-meter res ...
satellite platforms delivered to MDA MacDonald Dettwiler & Associates for the RapidEye Constellation and successfully launched from Baikonur
Baikonur ( kk, Байқоңыр, ; russian: Байконур, translit=Baykonur), formerly known as Leninsk, is a city of republic significance in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered ...
on 29 August 2008.
* UK-DMC 2 and Deimos-1
Deimos-1 is a Spanish Earth imaging satellite which is operated by Deimos Imaging who commercializes its imagery directly but also has distribution agreements with other entities like Astrium GEO and DMC International Imaging.
History
It was con ...
were launched on a Dnepr Dnepr may refer to:
*Dnieper, a river flowing through Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea
* Dnepr (motorcycle), a Ukraininan motocycle brand
* Dnepr (rocket), a 1999 space launch vehicle
*Dnepr radar Dnepr may refer to:
*Dnieper, a river ...
rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on 29 July 2009.
* NigeriaSat-2 and NX satellites, successfully launched on 17 August 2011.
* exactView-1, successfully launched on 22 July 2012 on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
* SAPPHIRE: Providing a satellite-based Resident Space Object (RSO) observing service that will provide accurate tracking data on deep space orbiting objects. Sapphire is the Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
Department of National Defence's first dedicated operational military satellite
A military satellite is an artificial satellite used for a military purpose. The most common missions are intelligence gathering, navigation and military communications.
The first military satellites were photographic reconnaissance missions. So ...
. Its space-based electro-optical sensor
Electro-optical sensors are electronic detectors that convert light, or a change in light, into an electronic signal. These sensors are able to detect electromagnetic radiation from the infrared up to the ultraviolet wavelengths. They are used in ...
will track man-made space objects in Earth orbits between 6000 and 40,000 km as part of Canada's continued support of Space Situational Awareness and the U.S. Space Surveillance Network by updating the U.S. Satellite Catalogue that is used by both NORAD and Canada.
* STRaND-1: Surrey Training, Research and Nanosatellite Development 1, launched in 2013, flies several new technologies for space applications and demonstration including the use of Android (operating system)
Android is a mobile operating system based on a modified version of the Linux kernel and other open-source software, designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Android is developed by a consortium of de ...
open source operating system on a Smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
.
See also
* Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom
The aerospace industry of the United Kingdom is the second-largest national aerospace industry in the world (after the United States) and the largest in Europe by turnover, with a global market share of 17% in 2019. In 2020, the industry employed ...
* Comparison of satellite buses
This page includes a list of satellite buses, of which multiple similar artificial satellites have been, or are being, built to the same model of structural frame, propulsion, spacecraft power and intra-spacecraft communication. Only commercially ...
* UoSAT-1
UoSAT-1, also known as UoSAT-OSCAR 9 (UO-9), was a British amateur radio satellite which orbited Earth. It was built at the University of Surrey and launched into low Earth orbit on 6 October 1981. It exceeded its anticipated two-year orbital lif ...
* UoSAT-2
UoSAT-2, which is also known as UO-11 and OSCAR-11, is a British satellite orbiting in Low Earth Orbit. The satellite functions as an amateur radio transmitter (known as an OSCAR) and was built at the University of Surrey. It launched into orbit ...
* UoSAT-3
* UoSAT-4
* UoSAT-5
* UoSAT-12
UoSAT-12 is a British satellite in Low Earth Orbit. It is the twelfth satellite in the University of Surrey series and was designed and built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL). It was launched into orbit in April 1999 on board a Dnepr r ...
* Cerise
* AlSAT-1
* UK-DMC
* UK-DMC 2
* UK-DMC 3
* BILSAT-1
BILSAT-1 (formerly just ''BILSAT'') was an earth observation satellite designed and developed by TÜBİTAK Space Technologies Research Institute (TÜBİTAK UZAY) and produced in Turkey as part of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) projec ...
* Deimos-1
Deimos-1 is a Spanish Earth imaging satellite which is operated by Deimos Imaging who commercializes its imagery directly but also has distribution agreements with other entities like Astrium GEO and DMC International Imaging.
History
It was con ...
* Snap-1 nanosatellite
* FASat-Alfa and Bravo
* RemoveDEBRIS
RemoveDEBRIS was a satellite research project intending to demonstrate various space debris removal technologies. The mission was led by the Surrey Space Centre from the University of Surrey with the satellite's platform manufactured by Surrey Sa ...
* KazEOSat 2
Navigation Payloads for Europe's Galileo Constellation
Between 2010 and 2020 SSTL manufactured and delivered 34 navigation payloads for the deployment phase of Galileo, Europe's satellite navigation system. OHB System AG was the prime contractor and builder of the spacecraft platform and SSTL had full responsibility for the navigation payloads, the brains of Galileo's navigation system.
References
External links
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
{{coord, 51, 14, 31, N, 0, 37, 01, W, region:GB, display=title
Aerospace companies of the United Kingdom
Aerospace engineering organizations
Airbus Defence and Space
Spacecraft manufacturers
Space programme of the United Kingdom
University of Surrey
Companies based in Guildford
Technology companies established in 1985
1985 establishments in England
Amateur radio companies