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.

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.


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.


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."

We are currently experiencing the effects of a solar storm. Since Monday morning, high-energy particles have been hurtling towards Earth from the Sun. This is the result of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME); a sudden burst of electromagnetic energy and particles released into space from the Sun’s atmosphere.

This Youtube video shows a large solar eruption that occurred in June, 2011:



In space, CME particles can collide with crucial electronics onboard a satellite, disrupting its systems. This is of particular concern in a region centred over a point close to the Falkland Islands, known as the South Atlantic Anomaly, where the Earth’s inner radiation belt comes closer to our planet’s surface. Normally satellites experience much higher levels of radiation when travelling through this region, and these effects will be exacerbated during a solar storm.

Interference with satellite signal transmissions can potentially affect our satellite-dependent communications and TV. Disruptions can also affect satellite navigation resulting in positional errors of up to tens of metres – with significant consequences for aircraft navigation and landing in particular.

Another concern for aircrews is the enhanced radiation experienced during solar storms at high altitude and at the poles of the earth. Although this is unlikely to cause permanent harm, airlines often re-route aircraft to avoid exposure.

The effects of this solar storm have even been felt here in Britain. Increased solar activity enhances the auroral oval in both the northern and southern hemispheres meaning that people in the north of the UK were able to witness the spectacular Northern Lights over the last few nights.

In severe cases very large CMEs can induce electrical fluctuations at ground level with the potential to blow out transformers in power grids, as happened in the 1989 Quebec blackout.

There’s little need to worry this time round though. This storm is likely to be only moderate as the magnetic polarity of the plasma is co-aligned with the Earth’s magnetic field. Severe solar storm effects only occur when it is cross-aligned.

Evidently, in an increasingly technological world, space weather is a serious matter. As a result, SSTL and the UK government are keen to monitor it. TechDemoSat-1 which is currently under construction in SSTL’s new Kepler facility, will carry a number of payloads collectively known as The Space Environment Suite to record radiation and ion levels. This suite will provide us with more comprehensive measurements and it is increasingly likely that such payloads will be carried on all missions in the future.

We hope you enjoyed the first half of our year in review yesterday, but there’s more to cover and it is the season for giving after all…

In October the SSTL-50, SSTL’s new microsatellite platform, landed at The International Astronomical Congress (IAC) in Cape Town, South Africa. The SSTL-50 is a highly cost-effective satellite design that can be built and launched in just 12 months. Its small size also means that two SSTL-50’s can fit facing each other in a space head module – so double the amount of satellites can be launched in one go. It doesn’t just redefine cost effective space (again), but its dual-mode design also offers scientific missions state-of-the-art innovation with the piece of mind of SSTL’s heritage platform avionics.



UoSat-1 also celebrated its 30th anniversary during the Cape Town gathering. Very close to the hearts of many at SSTL (and apparently Evan Davis’ father) UoSAT-1 was the blueprint for all future SSTL missions, pioneering small cost-effective satellite designs that capitalised on the microcomputer revolution. SSTL was later founded by Sir Martin Sweeting based on the success of UoSAT-1 and its successors.

Exciting new technology, NovaSAR, was also launched at the IAC. NovaSAR uses synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that allows satellites to capture images in all conditions because they can see through clouds and at night. The UK government announced an investment of £21 million to support the first satellite, planting the seed for a new high-tech service industry in the UK built upon the provision of low-cost radar.

October also saw the successful launch of two first in-orbit validation (IOV) satellites that will become part of the fully-fledged European GNSS constellation. SSTL is currently building the first 14 payloads for what will become Europe’s equivalent to the American Global Positioning System (GPS). The Constellation will begin operation in 2014 as a free consumer navigation service once the remaining satellites are launched.



Alongside building satellites for its customers, SSTL remains as passionate about innovation as ever. One recent project has brought together researchers at the Surrey Space Centre and passionate SSTL engineers during lunch breaks to develop STRaND-1, a 30cm long nanosatellite which is powered by a common smartphone. During the summer the STRaND-1 team launched a SpaceApp Facebook competition that offered entrants the chance to run their App on the satellite’s Google Nexus One smartphone in orbit.

In the spirit of the mission, the SpaceApp winners were selected based upon their creativity, scientific benefit and ability to inspire young people. Winning Apps included iTesa which will record the magnitude of the magnetic field around the phone during orbit, and “Scream in Space” which will test the tagline from Ridley Scott’s film Alien 'in space no-one can hear you scream’ by playing videos and using the smartphone's microphone. One App even promises Postcards from space – well have you had one before? You can follow STRaND-1 and the SpaceApp competition winners on Twitter @SurreyNanosats and Facebook www.facebook.com/nanosats

It’s not just the number of satellites that is increasing in 2011: SSTL itself has grown dramatically. This year an incredible 116 staff joined, bringing total numbers to 447.

We would like to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Stay tuned to find out more about space, the universe and everything in 2012. Don’t want to miss a blog? Subscribe here.

In 2011 Europe has launched its first satellites into its future GNSS constellation, America has found Earth-like planet Kepler-22b while China has dominated space news, and Russia’s stricken Phobos-Grunt has brought the year to a close.

Following the formation of the UK Space Agency in 2010, the UK has also had a busy year – especially here at SSTL. We have seen important projects reach major milestones, celebrated anniversaries, and unveiled some very exciting new space technologies to the world.

In February, the Disaster Monitoring Constellation celebrated its 10th birthday. This unique international collaboration was set up to gather and distribute images of disaster zones anywhere in the world, and assisted disaster relief during Hurricane Katrina, the Asian Tsunami and many other disasters. SSTL’s remote sensing subsidiary, DMCii, also led the International Charter of Space and Major Disasters for 6 months from May to November, taking the reins as the world reeled from the devastation caused by the earthquake in Japan. Servicing its members’ national programmes, disaster relief and commercial imaging campaigns, the constellation has continued to grow this year with the launch of two Nigerian satellites.



NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X were launched from Yasny, Russia on the 17th August. They are the tangible outcome of a comprehensive programme that included the training of some 26 Nigerian engineers – in fact, NigeriaSat-X was the first satellite to be built by Nigerians for Nigeria. NigeriaSat-2 was the first satellite using the new SSTL-300 platform to be launched, further pushing the price/performance boundaries for small observation satellites with its unrivalled agility. Apart from super-clear high resolution imaging NigeriaSat-2 can uses its off-pointing to acquire stereoscopic images and build a 3D picture to map terrain. Nigeria has big plans for its new satellite, from monthly crop monitoring for increased food security, and keeping tabs on the country’s rapid urban growth.

In June, DMCii signed an impressive £110 million deal with Beijing-based company 21AT during the Chinese premier’s visit to the UK to lease the imaging capacity of three high-resolution satellites for applications such as disaster response and urban planning. The SSTL-built satellites, which are based upon the SSTL-300 platform but carry a higher resolution 1m imaging payload, will form a constellation named DMC3. The deal addresses growing demand for images from the small imaging satellite Beijing-1 which was built by SSTL and launched for 21AT in 2005.

2011 also marked the opening of SSTL’s new £10 million world-class technical facility, The Kepler Building, providing assembly, testing and integration of satellite platforms and payloads. Co-located with SSTL’s headquarters, this secure building, with its state-of-the-art cleanrooms, laboratories and testing facilities, provides enhanced abilities to design, build, and test spacecraft for customers around the world in one place – and looks good in the process!



TechDemoSat-1 is one of the projects underway in Kepler. A pioneering small satellite showcasing some of UK industry’s most promising space technologies, it will give participating academia and companies early flight heritage – the lack of which has previously been a barrier to market acceptance. We’re expecting some TechDemoSat-1 updates very soon so watch this space!

It’s been such a busy year for SSTL, you’ll have to tune in tomorrow for the second half of SSTL’s Year in Review. In the meanwhile, why not treat yourself this Christmas and subscribe to Space Blog by opening your present above and make sure you don’t miss it (or any other blog) again!