The UK is developing a new satellite designed to help monitor climate change and give forewarning of potential natural disasters.
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is providing £3m to support the build of the new pathfinder satellite – intended to be one of the first in the Atlantic Constellation project – with co-funding from Open Cosmos, based at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
This Constellation will consist of 16 satellites equipped with Earth observation and telecommunications payloads. Once operational, it will provide observations every three hours, which help to provide forewarning of upcoming natural disasters alongside broader climate monitoring.
The satellite, which will be built in the UK, will be of the same design and launched in the same orbital plane as three others from Portugal, becoming the first batch sent up for the Constellation.
Science minister Andrew Griffith said: “Earth observation will play an absolutely vital role in tackling global challenges like climate change and disaster relief, providing the data we need at speed, while supporting key UK industries like agriculture and energy.
“By working with Open Cosmos on a new satellite and supporting our Atlantic partners Spain and Portugal, we can harness space tech for our shared goals, while creating new skills opportunities and jobs for the future to grow the UK economy.’’
Britain is currently the leading non-US manufacturer of satellites, with 47,000 people employed in its space industry. There are also plans to develop multiple microlaunch sites, including two vertical launchpads in Scotland.
In 2020, the UK government bought a stake in bankrupt satellite firm OneWeb, which aims to develop a network of more than 650 low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites designed for internet services.
Rafael Jorda Siquier, chief executive of Open Cosmos, said: “Building a shared satellite constellation is a very effective way of having high revisit diverse data over each region of interest.
“The UK joining Portugal and Spain in the Atlantic Constellation is a major step forward in the national Earth observation strategy, and we are very proud that Open Cosmos has been contracted to deliver the first UK pathfinder satellite.”
In August, Nasa selected space firm Rocket Lab to launch its PREFIRE mission to LEO in 2024. The mission will see the deployment of two satellites, which will be equipped with a thermal infrared spectrometer to compare the data with conditions in cloud cover and sea ice levels below as part of climate change monitoring efforts.
