Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) is a UK based company operating within the EADS Astrium group of companies. SSTL has a long and distinguished history originating as a university effort before evolving as a world leader in space based research and technologies. The company is focused on providing a return to investors and figures prominently into returns of both knowledge and to the UK economy. V1 Magazine editor Jeff Thurston interviewed Paul Brooks, Director of Earth Observation and Science, SSTL to learn about many positive directions the company is involved in.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) is a UK based company operating within the EADS Astrium group of companies. SSTL has a long and distinguished history originating as a university effort before evolving as a world leader in space based research and technologies. The company is focused on providing a return to investors and figures prominently into returns of both knowledge and to the UK economy. V1 Magazine editor Jeff Thurston interviewed Paul Brooks, Director of Earth Observation and Science, SSTL to learn about many positive directions the company is involved in.
V1 Magazine: SSTL has an impressive history and has been involved in many major space related projects. How did SSTL begin and what is the current status of the company in terms of ownership at the present time?
PB: SSTL launched its first satellite in 1981 as part of the University of Surrey and was then set up as a separate company in 1985. The company ran under the ownership of Surrey University for 24 years as both a profitable and cash generating company until 2009 when, with a turnover of £40M, it was acquired by EADS Astrium, a major European space company. The sale was necessary for SSTL as our business had grown to the point when we needed the financially and technical depth of a company such as Astrium to underwrite the significantly larger and more commercial projects we were attracting such as RapidEye and Galileo.
V1 Magazine: The company is centrally involved in the GALILEO satellite project through the European Union. What is SSTL’s role and the current status of the project? Will you continue to be involved in GALILEO once fully operational?
PB: SSTL are the Payload prime – responsible for the development, build and test of the complete Galileo payload. We are working with OHB of Germany who are the spacecraft prime and are also building the platform. Having been selected in December the contract is now fully under way to deliver at least 14 payloads to the Galileo system. Previously we had built the first Galileo spacecraft, GIOVE-A, and provided operational support to both GIOVE-A and GIOVE-B, and we expect to be involved in the operations of the spacecraft when they are deployed from 2013 onwards.
V1 Magazine: A ‘Space Innovation Hub’ has been established with your company as key actor. What is that about and can you explain some of the projects involved?
PB: It has been recognised by the UK government that the space sector is not only a significant business in its own right but one that has the potential to regenerate the culture of science and engineering excellence within the UK – critical to the UK’s economic future as a knowledge based economy.
As part of the measures taken by government a space centre has been set up in Harwell, Essex which will incorporate a UK facility and an ESA (European Space Agency) facility. We are expecting that this centre will be a driver for utilising UK spacecraft to provide the many beneficial applications of space such as climate monitoring, broadband communication, security and location based services. SSTL, as the world’s leading provider of cost effective small satellites would hope to provide many of the spacecraft that would be required to meet these needs.
EADS Astrium also supports the continued cooperation of SSTL and the University of Surrey, maintaining a “Space Innovation Hub” in Guildford. This cooperation is wide ranging and extends from feasibility studies and research to new mission concepts such as “CubeSail”, a device which can be fitted to satellites or launch vehicle upper stages that are sent into orbit and then can be deployed to successfully de-orbit equipment that has reached the end of its mission which will save the significant costs associated with the extra fuel this usually requires.
V1 Magazine: UK-DMC2 was the big news from last year. Can you tell us how that is operating and where some of that data is now being used? Deimos-1 was also launched at the same time. What is the purpose of that satellite and where is the data being used?
PB: UK-DMC2 and Deimos-1 were both launched at the same time and are both operating well, providing commercially and ecologically valuable information to governments and companies. Both satellites were funded on the basis of “Return on investment” – that is the cost of the satellite has to be repaid through the sale of the data and information sold from the mission. This is a key drive of SSTL – we do not see the value of space for its own sake, but for the return it can make to users and investors. The clearest example of such returns are in the commercial sector where it is a simple matter of profit or loss. It is a business approach we believe in so much that we bought our own satellite (UK-DMC2) which will pay for itself through the sale of imagery.
V1 Magazine: It is a little over a year since EADS Astrium acquired SSTL. It appears that the deal has benefitted SSTL in many ways. What has that change resulted in and what is now possible that seemed out of reach previously?
PB: The result of the sale has been very beneficial. In fact, we have recently signed our first joint contract with Astrium, to supply remote sensing spacecraft to Kazakhstan and this was an ideal situation where Astrium could use SSTL to provide a complete mission as part of a much larger programme. It was the type of programme that SSTL would not have been able to secure on its own, but through which both Astrium and the customer can now benefit from our unique approach.
V1 Magazine: Your company has also been involved in GNSS projects and remote sensing. What is that work about and how is it proceeding?
PB: Remote sensing, the acquisition of information about the Earth and its environment, is core to SSTL’s business and that of many of its customers. Satellites provide a unique means of acquiring the global and timely information about the Earth that is now, more than ever, essential for monitoring, understanding and informing decisions for governments, companies and agencies alike. As well as the continuing institutional need for remote sensing information and systems we are seeing a growing drive towards the commercialisation of such services and this is to be expected and welcomed. Governments require timely, accurate information and once the technology has been sufficiently proven by science and demonstration missions from ESA and other agencies, it is appropriate to move the service provision to industry where the costs of providing the information can be reduced and the level of service enhanced. SSTL with its low cost optical satellite capability is well positioned to ensure that such missions are commercially viable and provide better value to the end user.
Another interesting area that combines GNSS and remote sensing is the measurement of the signals from GPS and Galileo satellites as they are reflected from the Earth’s surface or transmitted through the atmosphere. SSTL has been undertaking such measurements with its GPS receivers for many years and has shown this to be an effective means for global monitoring of the ocean and atmosphere.
V1 Magazine: The British Government recently initiated a UK National Space Agency, is SSTL involved in that and how? Will this result in new UK – European – International projects?
PB: SSTL welcomes the new agency. Most of our work is export and many of our customers are surprised that there is no national agency with which they can collaborate in support of the commercial contracts with SSTL – this is a situation that is now corrected. We expect that the agency will act as a champion and focus for the multiple applications within UK government that require services and information from space and provide an interface between overseas customers and the UK government policy within which SSTL operates. Currently we get outstanding support from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the UK Trade and Investment office (UKTI) and our national embassies overseas and we hope that the space agency will provide the technical domain expertise as part of this UK government support to international business.
V1 Magazine: We sometimes hear that there is a shortage of skilled labor for remote sensing / GNSS related work, do you agree with that? Why do you think that is happening and what steps might we consider to rectify the situation?
PB: Space is a highly demanding technical discipline, requiring the best engineers and scientists and it is sad to report that we are having greater difficulty in finding enough such expertise to readily fill posts. I think this is a general problem within the UK where there is insufficient emphasis and value placed on the importance of science and engineering in schools and universities. We need as a country to ensure that we stay at the forefront of high value engineering and manufacturing and a high quality of basic science and engineering is an essential part of this. Another benefit of space is that it has the profile and “wow” factor to enthuse young people into science and engineering and we at SSTL support this through a number of outreach programmes.
V1 Magazine: There is a trend toward processing satellite imagery and delivering it over the Internet. Is SSTL involved with this considering its operational imaging satellites?
PB: Absolutely, and in DMC International Imaging we have had an Internet-based business and operation for the distribution of EO data many years. However, that is the small part of the change brought about by the increasing use of broadband and mobile communications. Through systems such as Google Earth, Virtual Earth and the navigation devices there is a completely new way of interacting and undertaking business that is hugely dependent on having up to date and accurate maps and information about the world. Satellites are the best means of providing this information on a global scale. The key, as ever, is to provide such a service at a price that produces a good return on investment and I believe this is the next major area for SSTL’s cost effective satellite missions, payloads and subsystems to build a new market supporting these Location Based Services.
V1 Magazine: SSTL is noted for visionary leadership. What are the challenges that lie ahead in terms of earth observation and navigation in your view? What should we be considering more at the present time? Where do you see SSTL in 5 years time?
PB: The pace of development in the Earth Observation domain is astonishing, with commercial systems now providing resolutions of approximately 40cm on an open, commercial basis – a capability that was strictly within the classified, military domain only a few years ago. Resolution though is only one part of the requirement and I believe that the real change comes when effective resolution information is available in a timely and complete manner and that requires constellations of satellites rather than large, single satellites that can only image one place every 3 or 4 days.
Of course, to build a constellation requires that the cost of each individual spacecraft is lower and that is SSTL’s forte. RapidEye, launched in 2008, was effectively the first commercial remote sensing constellation and this was the pioneer of what is to come.”. In five years time I am sure that there will be a number of remote sensing constellations addressing a variety of commercial and governmental needs from climate change and carbon monitoring to locations based services and news gathering. In five years time I expect SSTL to be a significant part of such initiatives and hence still the world’s leading provider of small satellites.
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Paul Brooks obtained a First Class degree in Physics from University of Oxford in 1988, following which he joined the Defence Research Agency in 1991 to work on optical remote sensing systems, including SPOT 5, and provide consultancy on the launch and operation of the Skynet 4 military communications systems. Prior to the privatisation of QinetiQ in 2001, Paul led the UK technical activities on optical space-based surveillance in a variety of international collaborations. He managed the delivery of the MWIR infra-red surveillance instrument and went on to develop, and then lead, the TopSat optical surveillance mission and also initiated and ran a 3-year programme that has successfully developed a novel, solar-powered high altitude UAV, termed Zephyr. Paul now leads the Earth Observation and Science division of SSTL.
For more information: http://www.sstl.co.uk
