Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) is to work with Canadian Earth observation company UrtheCast on the forthcoming 16 satellite Generation-3 constellation. The moves comes follows several months of close co-operation between the two teams to design a high performance low earth orbiting platform.
SSTL will design and build the satellite platforms, as well as the high resolution optical imagers. Patrick Wood, SSTL's group managing director, said: "The dual optical/radar constellation created by UrtheCast will be a game changer for the Earth Observation market. SSTL is ideally placed to design and build the UrtheCast satellites, having made a substantial investment in new automated production facilities geared to constellation manufacture."
NovaSAR, being built by SSTL under a UK Government grant, is said to provide a new benchmark in affordability and performance for responsive spaceborne radar.
Wade Larson, UrtheCast's president, said: "Of significance is the experience gained by SSTL through the design and build of NovaSAR, which has established it as the world leader in affordable synthetic aperture radar (SAR) solutions and which makes it uniquely qualified to manufacture UrtheCast's cutting edge dual band SAR design. SAR will be a key component of our constellation."
Author
Graham Pitcher
Source: www.newelectronics.co.uk