ESA DG and UK Science Minister open Kepler facility
Earlier this week, Jean-Jacques Dordain, the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), officially opened SSTL’s new Kepler building. The Director General unveiled a commemorative plaque with David Willetts, the Universities and Science Minister, at an event attended by guests from the UK and European space sectors.
Dr Matt Perkins, Rt.Hon. David Willetts, Sir Martin Sweeting and Jean-Jacques Dordain mark the occasion with a handshake.
The Director General was taken on a tour of the building by SSTL’s CEO Matt Perkins and Executive Chairman, Sir Martin Sweeting. On their rounds they viewed satellites currently under construction in the Kepler building, including TechDemoSat-1, a medium resolution spacecraft for Kazakhstan and ADS-1B, an SSTL-100 platform for COM DEV’s exactEarth constellation which is due to be launched later this year.
Franco Ongaro, ESA Director of Technology and Quality, Sir Martin Sweeting, Dr Matt Perkins and Jean-Jacques Dordain with TechDemoSat-1, currently under assembly and test in SSTL's AIT hall and due for launch Q4 2012.
The Director General was also shown the 14 European GNSS payloads being built in a specially designed secure area within the 40,000 sqft facility which is co-located with SSTL’s HQ in Surrey.
The Kepler building’s world-class testing halls and state of the art facilities will provide SSTL with greater capacity to build whole constellations at one time and also work on larger spacecraft than previously, such as the geostationary telecommunications satellite currently being developed under ARTES funding from ESA.
ADS-1B, an SSTL-100 platform for COM DEV’s exactEarth constellation.
David Willetts welcomed the new facility, commenting:
"The continued success of SSTL is a clear sign that our space industry is thriving. This impressive, high-tech new facility is already manufacturing some of the most advanced satellites in the world, boosting growth and helping the UK stay ahead of the game in space technology."
Jean-Jacques Dordain, Martin Ditter (ESA Harwell) and Dr Matt Perkins inspecting flight hardware in SSTL's Assembly, Integration and Test Hall.
