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Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
Guildford, U.K.

Further information from:

Audrey Nice
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
Tel: +44(0)1483 689278
Email: a.nice{at}sstl.co.uk
www.sstl.co.uk

Jacky Hutchinson
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Tel: +44 (0)1235 445732
Email: j.hutchinson{at}rl.ac.uk
www.ssd.rl.ac.uk/envtest/

27th May 2003

Three SSTL spacecraft complete pre-flight tests at RAL for DMC

British spacecraft manufacturers, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
(SSTL), have completed thermal vacuum tests on three spacecraft,
UK-DMC, NigeriaSat-1 and BILSAT-1. The 100kg enhanced microsatellites
will form part of the international Disaster Monitoring Constellation
(DMC).

The tests were conducted using the large Space Test Chamber at the
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire where each spacecraft
was subjected to hot and cold cycles within a temperature range of
+60 C to -20 C. In addition, vacuum tests replicated the
'non-atmospheric' environment in which the satellites will operate
in-orbit some 686km above the Earth. Thermal vacuum tests ran over a
5-day, 24-hour period with each subsystem tested individually within
the extremes of environment. 

All three satellites will be launched in July, completing the first 
constellation of microsatellites providing daily earth imaging
dedicated to disaster mitigation and monitoring. AlSAT-1, the first
satellite of the constellation, was launched last November and is
fully operational. 

Two of the satellites carry space technology experiments as well as
their DMC remote sensing payloads. UK-DMC hosts a high capacity
1-Gbyte solid data recorder, a micropropulsion experiment that will
qualify an ultra-low cost system for future nanosatellites and a GPS
reflectometry payload to look for reflections of GPS signals from the
sea surface. 

BILSAT experiments include two payloads designed and built by SSTL's
Turkish customer, TUBITAK-ODTU-BILTEN. The first, named COBAN, is a
nine-band low resolution multi-spectral imager. The second, named
GEZGIN, is a DSP based image processing module that uses the JPEG2000
algorithm to compress images taken by BILSAT-1's on board cameras.

Both of these payloads were designed and built by BILTEN engineers in
the context of the KHTT (Know How Training and Transfer) programme
that ran in parallel with the BILSAT project.

About the DMC:

The Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) is a novel international 
co-operation in space, led by SSTL bringing together organisations
from seven countries: Algeria, China, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, the
United Kingdom and Vietnam. The DMC Consortium is forming the
first-ever microsatellite constellation bringing remarkable Earth
observation capabilities both nationally to the individual satellite
owners, and internationally to benefit world-wide humanitarian aid
efforts. 

The first satellite in the DMC, AlSAT-1 for Algeria, was launched on
28 November 2002 and is fully operational in orbit, delivering
outstanding Earth observation imagery. AlSAT-1 will be joined in
orbit by a further three satellites for Nigeria, Turkey and the UK in
July 2003 -- all built at the Surrey Space Centre in Guildford. The
spacecraft for Algeria, Nigeria and Turkey were built under know-how
transfer and training programmes, whereby a team of engineers from
each country spent 18 months at Surrey working alongside SSTL
engineers. 

Each satellite, weighing some 90kg, will provide 32-metre
multispectral Earth observation imaging, covering a vast 600 x 600km
area anywhere on the Earth's surface. The images cover ten times more
area, compared with images of less than 200 x 200km currently
available from other civilian Earth observation satellites. Also
unique is the ability to re-image anywhere on the Earth's surface
within 24-hours -- something not achievable by any other satellite
currently in-orbit. These powerful resources place the DMC in a
distinctive position to provide Earth observation images to the
international disaster relief community in partnership with Reuters
AlertNet. 

The International Disaster Monitoring Constellation is a further
example of a new generation of advanced small satellites pioneered by
SSTL -- providing outstanding capability at low cost. The DMC will
demonstrate how a network of small satellites can work together to
provide valuable operational services at exceptionally low cost.

About SSTL:

SSTL specialises in the design, manufacture and operation of
high-performance yet low-cost small satellites provided on rapid
timescales to meet both civil and military Earth observation,
communications and space science applications. During 22 years SSTL
have launched 21 small satellite missions into low Earth orbit for
international customers, pioneering use of 'commercial-of-the-shelf'
(COTS) technologies and resulting in an experience and heritage of
missions and in-orbit operations unmatched by any other professional
satellite manufacturer. 

Four spacecraft are currently under construction at SSTL's
purpose-built facilities at the Surrey Space Centre in England: three
satellites for the international disaster monitoring constellation
(DMC), plus an enhanced, agile microsatellite to demonstrate
2.5-metre resolution Earth imaging for the UK MoD. The DMC is a
collaboration between organisations in six countries: Algeria, China,
Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, and UK to launch an Earth observation
constellation of small satellites providing daily imaging revisit
worldwide to assist in disaster monitoring.

SSTL employs 150 staff at Guildford, currently working on LEO,
geostationary and interplanetary platforms -- exploiting the
cost-effective technology and techniques that are the hallmarks of
Surrey's work.

About CCLRC:

The CCLRC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire is the
largest of the three sites of the Council for the Central Laboratory
of the Research Councils. The CCLRC is one of the UK's seven research
councils and is one of the UK's leading science research
organisations.

Its Space Science and Technology Department is one of the largest in
Europe, with expertise in a broad range of space science subjects
including solar physics, planetary science and space technology. The
Space Test Chamber is a 5.5 metre long thermal vacuum chamber where
small satellites and instruments are tested under vacuum and at the
extreme temperatures they will encounter in space.

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