SSTL has won a contract from Astrium GmbH to supply two S-band patch antennas for the TerraSAR mission – these antennas have previously flown on the GRACE and CHAMP missions.
The contract, valued at just over 40,000 Euros, has a delivery date of January 2004. TerraSAR is a joint venture by Astrium and DLR to develop an X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar observation spacecraft.
Weighing 1,023kg, with a ground resolution of approximately 1.5 metres, the project is being financed by the German govenment and will be built by Astrium and operated mainly for commercial purposes. The spacecaft will be launched on Dnepr in mid-2005.
SSTL specialises in the design, manufacture and operation of high-performance yet low-cost small satellites provided on rapid timescales to meet both civil & military Earth observation, communications and space science applications.
During 22 years SSTL have launched 21 small satellite missions into low Earth orbit for international customers, pioneering use of ‘commercial-of-the-shelf’ (COTS) technologies and resulting in an experience and heritage of missions and in-orbit operations unmatched by any other commercial satellite manufacturer.
Four spacecraft are currently under construction at the SSTL’s purpose-built facilities at the Surrey Space Centre in England: three satellites for the international disaster monitoring constellation (DMC), plus an enhanced, agile microsatellite to demonstrate 2.5-metre resolution Earth imaging for the UK MoD.
SSTL employs 150 staff at Guildford, currently working on geostationary and interplanetary platforms, exploiting the cost-effective technology and techniques that are the hallmarks of Surrey’s work.
