The landing of Huygens on Saturn's smog cloaked moon Titan was just
the first in a string of space events this year with particular
importance for the UK space community. The following calendar indicates
some of the year’s highlights.
A parachute system developed by Martin Baker and onboard software by
LogicaCMG guided the Open University's Surface Science Package onboard
Huygens safely down through Titan's cryogenic atmosphere (not your usual
parachute environment).
MTSAT-1R, Japan's new generation weather satellite, finally made it
into orbit following the failure of the MTSAT-1 launch five years ago.
UK interest in this event centres on LogicaCMG who supplied the Japan
Meteorological Agency's ground infrastructure - see http://www.logicacmg.com/pressroom/press_releases/press_releases.asp?display=detail&id=1149
Arguably the highlight of 2005: the first of the giant Inmarsat-4
global mobile broadband satellites, Inmarsat-4 F1 was launched on March
11th from Cape Canaveral; picture at http://about.inmarsat.com/?language=EN&textonly=False
Built by EADS Astrium in the UK and owned and operated by
London-based Inmarsat, these satellites will bring a step change in
performance to mobile users world-wide, not least emergency workers like
those in areas affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami. See http://www.inmarsat.com/
and http://www.astrium.eads.net/corp/programs/index_telecom.htm?/programs/part1/00000582.htm
ESA's Cryosat satellite (http://www.esa.int/esaLP/LPcryosat.html)
will be launched on 07 October (to be confirmed) from Plesetsk with the
mission of determining variations in the thickness of the Earth's
continental ice sheets and marine ice cover. The mission was devised and
is led by Professor Duncan Wingham of University College London - see http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/default.aspx?nid=3872
The UK's own Topsat satellite is due for launch on 27 September 2005
from Plesetsk, demonstrating the ability to obtain high quality images
from a low cost micro-satellite. Funded jointly by the British National
Space Centre and the UK MoD, Topsat is managed by a team of four UK
organisations: QinetiQ, Surrey Satellite Technology, Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory and Infoterra, see http://www.qinetiq.com/home/case_studies/security/security2.html
The 140kg China DMC satellite (http://www.sstl.co.uk/index.php?loc=121)
built by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited
in Guildford, Surrey, will be launched together with Topsat from
Plesetsk on 27 September. It
will provide imaging at both 32 m resolution in 3 optical bands (near
infra-red, red, green) across a 600km imaging swath and at 4 m
resolution in panchromatic mode. The
existing satellites (from Algeria, Nigeria, Turkey and the UK) in the
international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) have already been
used to provide rapid response imaging data to humanitarian aid and
relief organizations on some 18 occasions during the last year -
including providing the first maps of the disaster-stricken areas
following the Asian tsunami – see http://www.dmcii.com/
In December 2003 ESA's Mars Express arrived at the Red Planet, now
Venus Express (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120388_index_1_m.html#subhead7
) will be launched on 26 October 2005 from Baikonur to explore the dense
and dangerous atmosphere of Venus. UK scientific interest is centred
round Professor Fred Taylor's group at Oxford University, while EADS
Astrium was prime contractor for the satellite, see http://www.astrium.eads.net/corp/programs/index_science.htm?/programs/part3/00001063.htm
The second of the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites (http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/meteosat/15_O.jpg
) has been shipped to the launch site at Kourou, French Guyana.
Concerns about the Ariane 5 GS launch vehicle have resulted in a
slip to the launch date which is now stated to be "towards the end
of 2005". When in its
planned geostationary orbit, MSG-2 will provide a back-up to MSG-1 which
was launched in August 2002 as Europe's primary source of weather data.
UK companies provided much of the ground infrastructure at
Eumetsat in Darmstadt including LogicaCMG, SciSys and Vega, see http://www.eumetsat.de/
The year's finale will be the launch of the first of Europe's Galileo
satellites from Baikonur. Two Galileo prototypes are currently under
construction and whichever is ready first will make it into orbit - one
being built by Surrey Satellite Technology in Guildford, the other by
Galileo Industries with the payload being built by EADS Astrium UK in
Portsmouth. Either way, the UK will play a major role in the most
important step to-date in this European version of GPS, see http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMFJ41DU8E_index_1.html
and http://www.astrium.eads.net/corp/programs/index_nav.htm?/programs/part5/00000611.htm
Pat Norris
Chairman, RAeS Space Group
pat.norris@logica.com
15 August 2005
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