Along with Spain and Portugal, the UK will deploy a "pathfinder" satellite designed to detect early indicators of climate change. It will be built by British space startup Open Cosmos with funding from the UK Space Agency.
Four satellites will be launched in the same orbital plane and will form the first party of the constellation.
The company, based in Oxfordshire at the Harwell Space Campus, says the British satellite will increase the frequency of revisits to 33% early in the Constellation's formation, offering regularly updated data and support services such as detection, monitoring and disaster mitigation.
The prototype satellite will be built by Open Cosmos at its headquarters at the Harwell Space Campus, using the same design as the three Portuguese satellites.
Four satellites will be launched in one orbital plane, making up the first batch of the constellation. The UK satellite will increase the frequency of revisits to 33% early in the Constellation's formation, offering valuable and regularly updated data and supporting critical services such as detection, monitoring and disaster mitigation.
"Earth observation will play a hugely important role in tackling global challenges such as climate change and disaster relief, providing the data we need quickly, while supporting key UK industries such as agriculture and energy," Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and technologies Andrew Griffith.
“By working with Open Cosmos on the new satellite and supporting our Atlantic partners, Spain and Portugal, we can use space technology for our shared goals, while creating new skills, opportunities and jobs for the future growth of the UK economy. "
Atlantic Constellation's policy for accessing and providing data to members has yet to be determined. However, within the first year of operation, UK users are expected to be able to operate the satellite over an area of interest and benefit from high-frequency data and shorter revisit times over the UK.
& #8220;Creating a common satellite cluster is a very efficient way to revisit a variety of data for each region of interest," said Rafael Jorda Siquier, CEO of Open Cosmos.
"The UK's combined desire to join Portugal and Spain in the Atlantic constellation is a major step forward in the national EO strategy and we are very proud that Open Cosmos has been awarded the contract to supply the UK's first Pathfinder satellite."
The commitment is designed to complement the UK's contributions to the EU's Copernicus programme, the European Space Agency and bilateral missions. In particular, the British Space Agency provides 3 million pounds to support the creation of a new satellite.
Open Cosmos is the startup behind a project that aims to aggregate climate change data. Essentially, entities that add satellites to a constellation gain access to broader data. It has offices in Spain and Portugal.
Great Britain Space Conference
The conference, which brings together governments, industry and academia, is being held in Belfast on 21-23 November under the theme 'Space for our future'.
The venue for the biennial event for the UK space sector is the ICC Convention Center in Belfast.
This year's meaningful program has three main areas: DISCOVER (the potential of space), GROW (the possibilities of data and artificial intelligence) and SECURE (assets and services that are ready for the future). In addition, there are exhibitors, networking events and a gala dinner
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Source: electronicsweekly.com
