Professor Sir Martin Sweeting heads Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL), a £ multi-million operation supplying advanced yet low cost micro/mini-satellite solutions to the space industry. Recognising a market requirement for affordable, fast response small spacecraft for civil and military applications, Sir Martin and his team at SSTL have reaped rich rewards by pioneering the use of ‘commercial-off-the-shelf’ (COTS) components, exploiting the latest developments stimulated by the consumer market. With annual sales approaching £25 million and delivering a profit of around £1M, the Company has become the world’s leading micro-satellite company.

Born in 1951, Sir Martin gained BSc and PhD degrees in Electronic Engineering at the University of Surrey before forming the University spin-off company, SSTL in 1985. Inspired by the challenge of converting their space technology research into a commercial operation, Sir Martin and a handful of academic researchers established a business leading the field in applying COTS components to the design, build and launch of sophisticated nano, micro and mini-satellites.

With 25 satellites already in orbit and a 26th scheduled for the end of the year, SSTL continues to supply systems to countries across the globe, including Algeria, France, Chile, China, Korea, Malaysia, Nigeria, Portugal, Thailand, Turkey and even the USA.

Last year Sir Martin was the driving force behind the formation of DMCii, a new company co-located with SSTL, specifically to exploit the imaging data generated by the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) constellation of micro-satellites led by SSTL. The Company was formed to manage the image data from the DMC, monitoring natural and man-made disasters, such as mapping applications for displaced people, the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean Tsunami. DMCii also manages the sale of data from the DMC satellites to commercial users – the Company has just completed its first year of trading and declared a profit.

As well as supporting the logistics of disaster relief, the DMC provides independent daily imaging capability to its partner nations; Algeria, Nigeria, Turkey, China and the UK. The DMC was conceived at SSTL in 1995 as an international partnership, and Sir Martin has been instrumental in maintaining a close relationship with the partner nations since then. Additionally, SSTL supplied all the 5 micro-satellites within the constellation and team training to the nations involved.

A leading authority in small satellite concepts and techniques, Sir Martin continues to stimulate research and development in his position as Director of the Surrey Space Centre (SSC). Working in conjunction with SSTL, SSC comprises a team of 50 faculty and doctoral staff, who provide a research and learning environment that is recognised for its excellence worldwide. Research at the SSC covers a wide range of space techniques, such as: solar thermal propulsion, martian helicopters, autonomous data management, novel attitude control algorithms and even satellite systems-on-a-chip.

Sir Martin has been recognised worldwide for his contribution to space technology. He is a member of several European space advisory committees and presents at many of the leading space technology forums, most recently at a Military Space Communications conference in London. In 1995 he was awarded an OBE, and in 2002 was knighted by HM Queen in the British New Year Honours for services to the small satellite industry.

Sir Martin sees applications for small satellites beyond Earth-oriented observation and communications. These will enable more affordable and frequent missions to explore the solar system planets and asteroids.

Source: SSTL Press release