At the Farnborough International Airshow last week, the UK signed a historic agreement with Russia leading the way to greater collaboration in space between the two nations. SSTL welcomes this great news, which promises to make it easier for the two nations to benefit from their respective strengths.

SSTL has had a long and successful collaboration with a variety of Russian organisations spanning 20 years, working with the UK and Moscow offices of Commercial Space Technologies (CST Ltd.) as representative and local partner. SSTL and CST have together been one of the major customers for Russian launch services. However, don't think it's a one way street - SSTL is also playing an integral role in the high resolution Kanopus Earth Observation constellation with its partner FSUE NPP VNIIEM.

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting OBE, Executive Chairman of SSTL, commented

We have built up a close relationship with our colleagues at CST and the Russian Space Agency over the last 20 years, successfully launching 21 satellites on-board Russian rockets over 11 launch campaigns. SSTL was the first customer and partner for the DNEPR launch vehicle, allowing Kosmotras to compete in the international market for launch services using this launcher and also the first customer for SSO services from Plesetsk on Cosmos LV. SSTL is extending this relationship into the future through significant participation in the Kanopus high resolution Earth Observation constellation with our partner FSUE NPP VNIIEM and the launch of three further satellites from Russia later this year. I hope that the signing of this MOU between UK Space Agency and the Russian Federal Space Agency will bring further commercial benefits to the space activities and space industries of both countries.

In October, SSTL will launch the NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X satellites on behalf of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) by a Dnepr launch vehicle from Yasny, Russia on 29th October 2010.

In March 2007, SSTL announced that it had signed an order with Federal State Unitary Enterprise - The Russian Research and Production Enterprise Pan-Russian Research Institute for Electromechanics (FSUE NPP VNIIEM) and Radioexport of Russia for the supply for the supply of satellite platform equipment and services for the KANOPUS Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Earth observation spacecraft.

The first satellite, KANOPUS-B will monitor the Earth's surface and support the monitoring of disasters, agricultural planning and the management of water and coastal resources.

The project was to be a highly cooperative effort from the beginning, with great admiration on both sides of the project. The cooperation has also been different in the nature of its deliverables, and for technical, cultural reasons.

First of all, let’s look into the project itself. SSTL is a small satellite manufacturer, that regularly builds and integrates fully-functioning satellites like the recently launched UK-DMC2 or Deimos-1 earth observation missions. It also supplies sub-systems such as high resolution earth imaging payloads, multi-spectral imagers, on-board computers or GPS receivers for third party missions.

For the KANOPUS-B contract, a new approach was adopted where SSTL would build the satellite platform, avionics equipment and software, but then support VNIIEM with their spacecraft assembly and payload integration activities in Russia.

Integration – the moment of truth

During May and June, teams from SSTL visited VNIIEM’s impressive Assembly, integration and test (AIT) facilities in Moscow.

AIT Engineer Rob Gibbings and manufacturing engineer Greg Rouse can be seen to the left cutting a wiring harness to the required length and attaching customer connectors onto the SSTL harness.

More recently, in August, a team from SSTL visited the VNIIEM AIT facilities in Moscow to connect the SSTL equipment with the rest of the satellite equipment, perform tests on hardware and perform initial integration checks before satellite integration.

In the photo Lead AIT engineer Ari Venkatesan is connecting the VNIIEM Solar Array Simulator (SAS) to the SSTL power system, which was one of the integration checks performed.

During the visit in August, SSTL successfully integrated the VNIIEM SAS.

SSTL provided power and pulse-per-second [satellite timing information] to the Mission Hardware (Payload) through our systems, and achieved communication between the SSTL on-board computer and the Mission Hardware over the MIL-1553 data bus.

One of the major technical differences was the Russian’s use of a MIL-1553 data bus, and the compatibility of the SSTL built systems with this.

SSTL’s heritage systems use a CAN (control area network) bus for robust on-board communications between subsystems. VNIIEM wanted SSTL’s CAN-based systems to be able to “talk” to the 1553 bus systems reliably and with no loss of information. This has been achieved by using the OBC (On-Board Computer) as the interface between the SSTL CAN data bus and the VNIIEM MIL-1553 data bus. The OBC in effect performs the translation from MIL-1553 data into CAN data and vice-versa.

The SSTL on-board computer is also using newly developed flight software for this mission. Building the software from the new operating system upwards and accommodating the new and different payload interfaces and modes of operation to what SSTL is accustomed to is no small task. This newly developed software successfully established communications with the Mission Hardware during the testing in Moscow. Further testing is required, but this first step went a long way to build confidence in both teams.

The culture of engineering

Yes, you heard right. Culture and engineering in the same sentence.

The two companies have a very different engineering culture. SSTL has made a name for itself by changing the economics of space – a feat made possible by adopting Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) technology and applying it to space systems.

Its heritage is built on a “systems engineering” approach which takes advantage of new technologies and tight integration. For example, one of the reasons that SSTL can provide such fast turnaround for missions is that their “off the shelf” platforms comprise tightly integrated subsystems for telemetry, navigation, mission planning and attitude control.

The culture of engineering in Russia is quite different. This is largely because SSTL’s Russian counterparts are more familiar with building larger satellites with stringent specifications and reliability requirements.

SSTL, on the other hand builds complete systems that are integrated with software and (re)programmable electronics. The modules are physically separate and can be tested separately, but the customer benefits from advanced functionality and a more robust system within a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) when the system is treated as a whole.

Project Manager, Alex O’Neill explained,

“The design process is also different. Whereas we would design and allow for margins of error, the Russian approach is more focussed on eliminating errors through thorough, precise and comprehensive analysis and design choices.”

“This meant that our initial meetings could stop and start, with both ourselves and the VNIIEM engineers having different expectations.”

SSTL is a dynamic young company that attracts talented young scientists and engineers, as such the average age of the core team dedicated to the VNIIEM project is 33, even experts in a particular field may not be much older.

Alex O’Neill reflects,

“In the beginning, the age difference was very noticeable. We felt that we were perhaps treated with some fair scepticism by the more mature and very experienced and capable Russian engineers. Initially, our ideas were also difficult for these experienced space veterans to fully appreciate, but I am pleased to say that a strong mutual respect has been earned by both sides."

It is believed that the KANOPUS satellites will be launched either at the end of 2009 and early 2010, and SSTL looks forward to a long a fruitful relationship with VNIIEM in the future.

SSTL and ISC Kosmotras are celebrating 10 years of successful cooperation, since the SSTL minisatellite UoSAT-12 made history as the first successful orbital injection by the Dnepr launch vehicle in April 1999.

Vladamir Andreev, the Director General of ISC Kosmotras explained the importance of the launch to Kosmotras and SSTL

This occasion is a remarkable event in the activity of our two companies. For SSTL, this was an important step in the progress of space technologies, and for ISC Kosmotras the first orbital launch of the Dnepr launch vehicle.

Dnepr is based upon the SS-18 strategic missile, one of the world’s most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles. Only minor modifications were required to adapt the rocket that was originally built to fire carry nuclear payloads into the highly reliable satellite launch vehicle that it is today.

Sir Martin Sweeting, Executive Chairman of SSTL, added

The introduction of Dnepr as a cost-effective launch solution suited to small satellites was clearly a new and important development and one which has since been proved through a series of successful small satellite launches. As SSTL’s first minisatellite, UoSAT-12 represented a correspondingly important technological development for the Company, paving the way for the GIOVE-A mission seven years later.

UoSAT-12 was a demonstration mission, designed and built in Guildford, UK by SSTL as a £5.5 million research and development project. The 350kg satellite demonstrated advanced high resolution multispectral and panchromatic Earth observation payloads, low Earth orbit microwave digital communications and a number of novel propulsion and attitude control technologies.

For SSTL, UoSAT-12 was the first in a series of successful Dnepr launches, including Malaysia’s first microsatellite, TiungSat, in September 2000. ISC Kosmotras was also selected for the complex launch of the 5-satellite RapidEye constellation in August 2008. During the summer of 2009, Dnepr will also launch two new DMC satellites built by SSTL: UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1.

You can see the Dnepr in action launching the RapidEye constellation that SSTL built for MDA below.



Cooperation with the Russian launch providers is seen by SSTL as a key ingredient in its small satellite programme, which has never failed to satisfy a customer’s launch requirements. By working closely with partners such as Commercial Space Technologies (CST), SSTL’s experienced team has become adept at filtering through the launch markets to find suitable, and sometimes innovative, solutions for the launch of customer satellites.

Through its newly formed subsidiary, Surrey Satellite Services Limited, SSTL has the long term vision of creating a northern latitude launch capability to satisfy the growing demand for the efficient delivery of sun synchronous, polar low Earth orbit and highly inclined satellite systems, as well as responding to the needs of operational responsive space.

SSTL has signed an order with the Federal State Unitary Enterprise - The Russian Research and Production Enterprise Pan-Russian Research Institute for Electromechanics (FSUE NPP VNIIEM) and Radioexport of Russia for the supply of satellite platform equipment and services for the KANOPUS Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Earth observation spacecraft.

The first satellite, KANOPUS-B, will be ready for launch in 2008. It will monitor the Earth's surface and will support the monitoring of disasters, agricultural planning and the management of water and coastal resources. Under the contract SSTL will supply FSUE NPP VNIIEM with the platform avionics equipment and software, and support their spacecraft assembly and integration activities in Russia.

SSTL's executive chairman Sir Martin Sweeting commented, "This contract is a unique opportunity for FSUE NPP VNIIEM and SSTL to further develop its co-operation on future Russian small satellite projects."

Last month ESA awarded SSTL a follow-on contract for the supply of a second navigation satellite, GIOVE-A2. 12 satellites are currently under construction and test at SSTL's facilities in Guildford for customers in Europe, North America and Africa.

Press Release: Russia places order with SSTL for satellite platform equipment