Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) has been awarded a study phase contract for a potential joint US-UK lunar orbiter mission to be called Magnolia.
The value of the contract, awarded to SSTL by Mississippi State University, which in turn is working for NASA, has not been disclosed.
Its first phase will run for nine months, ending in a preliminary mission design, with the next stage planned to start in 2008 and potentially leading to the mission's 2010 launch.
The contract includes a package of training by SSTL and the Guildford, UK-based University of Surrey, that will allow Mississippi State and NASA Stennis Space Center staff to learn from SSTL's experience of 27 small satellite missions. The contract between Mississippi State and SSTL follows the April signing of a joint statement of intent between NASA and the UK government's British National Space Centre.
In 2006 SSTL performed a lunar exploration design study for the UK government's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, which is now part of the Science & Technology Facilities Council. The study was supported by UK scientists and showed the feasibility of a pair of low-cost missions known as MoonLITE and MoonRaker.
SSTL has developed equipment for the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet-chasing mission and recently delivered a payload processor for a US radar to fly on board the 2008 Indian lunar mission, Chandrayaan-1.
SSTL has also performed an ESA feasibility study for a low-cost mission to Venus and has studied potential missions to near-Earth asteroids and re-entry for the return of samples from Mars.
Source: Flight International
