GUILDFORD, U.K. - Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) has signed a contract with UrtheCast to build its UrtheDaily constellation of small satellites. The UrtheDaily constellation is planned to launch in 2020 and will provide multispectral, high-resolution imagery targeted to geoanalytics applications.
SSTL will base the satellites on its SSTL-250 platform. The satellites, built at SSLT's Guildford, U.K. facility, will deliver high-resolution imagery using spectral bands, which have been specifically selected to match Landsat-8, Sentinel-2, RapidEye and Deimos-1 bands to ease cross-calibration with trusted references and to minimize the effects of atmospheric variations.
The SSTL-250 is a small satellite platform based on the SSTL-300. Variants of the SSTL-300 can support payloads between 15 kilograms and 200 kilograms. They generate up to 180 watts of payload power and have a five to seven year lifespan. SSTL has been involved in missions that include Beijing-1, platforms for the 5 satellite RapidEye constellation, Deimos-1, exactView-1, KazEOSAT-2, and the 3-satellite TripleSat constellation.
UrtheCast plans to eventually operate a network of eight optical imaging satellites and eight synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites. UrtheCast is part of a trend toward building and launching networks of small satellites. The field has become crowded in recent years as more companies attempt to build massive networks of relatively small remote sensing satellites. While competition is fierce, UrtheCast has a number of advantages. It is unique in offering a constellation that provides both optical and radar imagery data. It has also been successful in signing agreements with government agencies in the U.S. and Canada, and possibly elsewhere.
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