China and the Netherlands are to launch a pair of small formation-flying satellites in 2011 to monitor climate change.
The Technical University of Delft and University of Tsinghua will launch the two 35kg (77lb) satellites into low Earth orbit in a loose train formation to measure snow and ice levels and monitor solid and liquid particles present in the atmosphere.
Expected to operate at an altitude of up to 800km (480 miles) in a Sun-synchronous orbit, the two spacecraft will have a radio-frequency datalink and common instrument package including a spectropolarimeter and altimeter.
Both are expected to use cold-gas propulsion in conjunction with autonomous formation-flying systems to maintain their relative positions kilometres apart. The universities are building one spacecraft each so they will not be identical.
Delft faculty of aerospace engineering professor of the system integration design Eberhard Gill says the total mission cost will be determined this year, but "the typical order of magnitude for the cost for this sort of hardware's development is €100,000 [$146,000] per kilogramme".
This means the cost for Delft could be around €3.5 million for its satellite alone. Gill expects the two satellites to be launched by the Chinese.
Source: FlightGlobal.com