The UK's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) is developing a Tactical Optical Satellite (Topsat) to speed up the collection and dissemination of Earth observation data.
The programme will be part-funded from the $10 million which DERA has received from the British National Space Centre's (BNSC) Department of Trade and Industry-sponsored Mosaic space programme. Applications will include military observation and pollution monitoring.
The $20 million Topsat programme also involves Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL), which will provide the microsatellite platform, assemble the spacecraft and arrange its launch. The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is building the satellite's 2.5m (8ft) resolution camera; and the National Remote Sensing Centre will market the images. DERA will co-ordinate the project and also build the X-band downlink payload and data handling unit.
• SSTL has released images taken by its 6.5kg (3lb) SNAP 1 Nanosat in orbit after its piggyback launch with the SSTL-Chinese 50kg Tsiunghua 1 microsatellite in June. The images show the deployment of the Russian Nadezhda satellite from the final stage of the Dnepr launcher and were taken by a "machine vision system" comprising four micro-miniature single-chip video cameras.
SNAP was developed by a joint academic-commercial team at the Surrey Space Centre and SSTL to demonstrate the use of advanced, highly-integrated nanosatellites to observe the exterior of space vehicles. It carries a pencil-sized butane propulsion system, used to manoeuvre the spacecraft.
Source: Flight International
