For anyone visiting the SSTL headquarters in Guildford UK during the past year, it’s been hard to miss the construction of the new state-of-the-art Kepler Building just opposite. True to SSTL’s approach, the building, that was just blueprints months ago, is now ready for business and is already filling up with people and equipment.



With projects such as the European GNSS payloads and the DMC3 Earth Observation constellation on the go, SSTL has far outgrown their original facilities at University of Surrey and there have been plans of a new completely customised building for some time. Space Blog caught up with SSTL Facility Manager Tim Gilbert, who oversaw the design and build of the new facility, from planning to construction. Tim pointed out how they used all their previous experience when planning and designing the Kepler building. Capitalising on input from engineers and employees whilst taking production workflow into consideration, was essential to make the new facility as functional and efficient as possible.

Tim Gilbert said “We needed to predict not only the future increased size but also the handling challenges associated with the future generations of satellites. As SSTL is moving towards producing larger and heavier satellites, we don’t want to be constrained by the size of the building in which we’re working. With the Kepler building we’re able to meet our 5-10 year business plan”.

The new facility’s cleanrooms, laboratories and testing facilities total 3,700sqm (40,000 sqft), a huge step change upwards in production capacity. Satellites as big as GIOVE-A can easily fit through the cleanrooms with 11 metre high ceilings, wide doors and large access corridors. The Kepler Building will accommodate typically 40 permanent staff, and anything up to 100 further project specific staff from across the company at peak test and integration periods.

New world-class Assembly, Integration and Test halls are integral to the new facility, providing two 125 cubic metre walk-in thermal chambers, a seismic test platform, monorail and gantry cranes ranging from 3,200kg to 15,000kg and reinforced floors - providing the greatest possible flexibility for integration and testing of both small and larger spacecraft simultaneously.

The Kepler Building is also assessed as Very Good through the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), evaluating a range of issues from the building’s user friendliness to it’s environmental impact.

Satellites currently being assembled and tested in the new world-class test halls include TechDemoSat-1 and the Kazakhstan medium resolution satellite for Astrium. Six SSTL satellite missions are scheduled for launch this year: NigeriaSat-2 and NigeriaSat-X for NASRDA, KANOPUS 1 and 2 spacecraft for VNIIEM, ADS-1B for COM DEV, and SAPPHIRE for MacDonald Dettwiler Associates (MDA). The new capacity also plays an important role in SSTL’s contract to supply the first 14 European GNSS payloads in partnership with OHB Technology, which will be assembled in the secure facility.

Earlier this week, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao witnessed the signing of a £110m satellite imaging deal between SSTL subsidiary DMCii and Beijing-based company 21AT during the UK-China trade summit at 10 Downing Street.

China’s rapid growth has prompted unparalleled demand for satellite imagery, which can be used for urban planning, change detection and disaster monitoring.

In a new way of requiring satellite imagery, 21AT will be leasing 100% of the DMC3 constellation’s capacity from DMCii, giving them the flexibility to quickly receive the images they need, but without the complexity associated with operating three satellites.

DMC3 will be powered by three SSTL-300S1 satellites, SSTL’s new smallsat design which provides unparalleled 1 metre high resolution imagery with high speed downlink and 45 degrees off-pointing.

Yesterday was a busy day at SSTL's HQ in Guildford. As the £110m DMC3 satellite constellation contract was being agreed with Chinese company 21AT, SSTL was also delighted to host a visit by three Members of Parliament with strong interests in space and what space applications can do for the "man on the street".

Simon Wright, MP for Norwich South, is vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Space Committee with a particular interest in Earth Observation and Climate Change. David Morris, MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale in Lancashire, is also a vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Space Committee with a particular interest in Space Science and Satellite Broadband access.

It’s genuinely exciting to see the high tech space industry working and growing here in Surrey. A facility like SSTL deserves a high level of Government support.

commented Jonathan Lord MP, who was interested in visiting SSTL given the proximity of the company's Guildford Headquarters to his Woking constituency.


During the visit the MPs met SSTL's founder and board chairman, Sir Martin Sweeting. Sir Martin commented:

SSTL is primarily an exporting company and needs to work closely with the government in many of our export activities. In addition to working closely with the newly formed UK Space Agency, the Parliamentary Space Committee provides an excellent forum for space companies like SSTL to discuss, with members of Parliament, the means by which the government can support our export activities.

Continue reading "Space-savvy MPs visit Kepler technical facility"

SSTL and its US operation SST US are attending the Satellite 2010 exhibition at National Harbor, Maryland, USA from 16-18 March 2010.

Visit Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd on stand 1925.

SST US CEO John Paffett will be joined by Kathryn O'Donnell, Yasrine Ibnyahya and Simon Crouch from SSTL and Brent Abbott, Becky Yoder and Katherine Defoe from SST US.

Come and find out about how we deliver low risk high performance satellites at a fraction of the price usually associated with such levels of capability.