UK sat firm plans low cost mapper

[pmn1]

From the BBC <br /><br />A UK firm believes its latest satellite design can dramatically reduce the cost of high resolution space imagery. <br /><br />SSTL says the spacecraft would map the Earth's surface at resolutions typically found in virtual globe programs, at 60cm/pixel. <br /><br />The company claims the whole system could be built and launched for $70m rather than the roughly $500m it costs to put up more conventional spacecraft. <br /><br />SSTL has just been bought up by EADS Astrium, Europe's biggest space firm. <br /><br />The ultra hi-res optical system is the first new product to be detailed by Surrey Satellite Technology Limited since the acquisition. <br /><br />The Guildford-based outfit has made its name for itself by producing very low-cost space systems. Its small satellites incorporate many off-the-shelf components normally found in the computer and automobile industries. <br /><br />"This is an exciting development for us; we've been studying the idea for over a year now," said Philip Davies, business development manager with SSTL. <br /><br />"You could produce extremely good maps with the data from this spacecraft. In terms of the satellite, we are looking at about one-tenth of the cost of a normal satellite." <br /><br />SSTL hopes to exploit the rapidly growing market for commercial mapping and location-based services seen in the emergence of the likes of Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual Globe, Nokia Maps, TomTom sat-nav systems, and others. <br /><br />Currently, the image data which feeds such systems comes from large spacecraft partly funded by the US government. <br /><br />SSTL says that although the quality of the pictures is excellent, commercial customers are constantly looking for lower costs and more up-to-date coverage to keep their mapping services accurate. <br /><br />The company believes its new ART (Accuracy, Reach, Timeless) satellite system can deliver sub-one-metre resolution, covering 95% of the Earth's surface every 30 months. <br /><br />Raw imagery costs would come out at $0.15 per sq km. This compares with the $20 per sq km being charged for some pictures currently. <br /><br />There have been some major buy-outs in the mapping sector which underline its potential future growth. Nokia, for instance, bought NavTeq, the company which produces the maps for Nokia's mobile services, for $8.1bn. <br /><br />"Our view is that people are now very used to using high-quality imagery in tools such as GoogleEarth and NokiaMaps and what is needed is consistent quality across the world, and that the imagery is fresh - not many years out of date," said Paul Brooks, director for business development and sales at SSTL. <br /><br />"Our system allows this at a price that allows a good return on investment." <br /><br />SSTL is perhaps best known for its Disaster Monitoring Constellation satellites which map the Earth at times of emergency at resolutions between 4m and 32m. It also produced Giove-A, the first demonstration spacecraft for Europe's forthcoming sat-nav system, Galileo. <br /><br />It is also working on a British Moon mission concept. <br /><br />The purchase of SSTL by EADS Astrium was approved by the European Commission after it was satisfied there would not be a loss of competition in the market place. SSTL is allowed to bid directly against its parent for new business. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>