Abstract

For 50 years space has been considered the preserve of super-powers, however modern microsatellites, taking advantage of the enormous commercial investments made into consumer electronics, have been able to exploit commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) devices developed for the consumer markets to reduce dramatically the size, cost and manufacture times of small and yet highly capable satellites. This is fundamentally changing the economics of space and putting sophisticated space assets within the reach of almost every nation.
The UK has pioneered advanced small satellites through research at the Surrey Space Centre and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), formed 25 years ago as a spin off company to transfer academic research to commercial exploitation. Having built and launched 39 satellites for Earth observation, technology demonstration, navigation, space science and disaster monitoring constellations, SSTL continues to thrive as an independent company within the EADS Astrium Group. SSTL is now building 22 navigation payloads for the EC/ESA Galileo satellite navigation programme, 3 high resolution optical Earth observation satellites and developing an innovative small radar satellite NovaSAR jointly funded by the UK government. Research at the Surrey Space Centre is exploring the technologies and concepts needed for future generations of small satellites – both for Earth orbit and affordable interplanetary exploration.

Biography

Sir Martin pioneered rapid-response, low-cost and highly-capable small satellites utilising modern terrestrial COTS devices to change the economics of space. In 1985 he formed a spin-off University company (SSTL) which has now designed, built, launched and operated in orbit 39 nano, micro, and mini-satellites – including the international Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) and GIOVE-A, the first Galileo navigation satellite for ESA. SSTL has grown to 500 staff with annual revenues of £100M with total export sales in excess of £600M and is currently manufacturing the 22 navigation payloads for the Galileo Full Operational Constellation, a new constellation of 3 high-resolution (1-metre) Earth Observation minisatellites and a low-cost medium-resolution SAR minisatellite (NovaSAR) supported by the UK government.
As Director of the Surrey Space Centre, Sir Martin leads a team of 90 faculty and doctoral researchers investigating advanced small satellite concepts and techniques, acting as the research laboratory for SSTL – real academic-commercial synergy. Sir Martin has been appointed OBE and knighted by HM The Queen, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and most recently has received the prestigious von Karman Wings Award from CalTech/JPL. He is a member of the UK Space Leadership Council.