Developing a high-performance, but low cost satellite with very high resolution products would open the Earth Observation market to a new audience, creating a path for new applications and ultimately encouraging competitiveness.

These products are currently not often covered by the space industry and access is very limited. As such a new low cost satellite, with turnkey technology could open the market considerably. A new activity, with GSTP Element 2 and Spain, has developed a spacecraft to do just that. 

The seven phases of SAT4EO opened the market with low cost solutions, merged optical very high resolution products with low-cost microsatellites, aligned the spacecraft with the current market, improved know-how, performance and covered a variety of different applications – from natural disaster, to energy through to natural resources and security.

The activity intended to deliver a fully qualified satellite that could eventually be modified in future iterations for customers or tailored to industries. To reach this point, a variety of technologies had to first be developed or bought, from a high-resolution optical payload, to a data handling subsystem, attitude and orbit control subsystem, and a new propulsion subsystem.

Based on the complexity of the two most critical technologies, the High Resolution Optical Payload and the Imager Processor, and their current TRL status, a dedicated plan was needed for their development. The activity chose to utilise already existing technology for the High Resolution Optical Payload, to build on the extensive experience of the design, alignment and bonding of components such as primary mirrors or lenses to advance the TRL level quickly.

All four critical technologies are still progressing through design, product and readiness reviews, with the intention of having a fully developed spacecraft platform and payload to be launched by 2024.