SSTL signs contract for
collaborative mission
with Kazakhstan
1 July 2013
A contract was signed
today between Sir Martin
Sweeting, Executive
Chairman of Surrey
Satellite Technology Ltd
(SSTL) and Mr Amanzhol
Jaimurzin, General
Director of JV Ghalam
LLP, for the
collaborative design and
development of the Kazak
Science and Technology
satellite system. Ghalam
LLP is a joint venture
between JSC "National
Company Kazakhstan
Garysh Sapary" (KGS) and
EADS Astrium.
Under the contract, SSTL
and the Ghalam team will
jointly develop the
"SSTL-50KZ" platform
using heritage SSTL
platform design and
payload equipment
including an SSTL
EarthMapper payload
designed for global
commercial wide-area
imaging, as well as
flying a number of
jointly-developed
equipments and payloads,
a novel imaging
instrument, and a new
on-board computer. The
new platform will be
designed to provide over
50W Orbit Average Power
to a 50kg payload
mission and it is
intended that the
platform and some of the
new technologies will be
used on future Kazak
missions. Additionally,
a cubesat carrying a
payload for ionospheric
research will be
developed by SSTL,
Ghalam LLP and the
Surrey Space Centre at
the University of
Surrey.
After the signing SSTL's
Executive Chairman Sir
Martin Sweeting
commented: "We are
extremely pleased to
have been selected to
work on this
collaborative mission.
Innovation in the space
business is extremely
important and in our
experience the
opportunity to work with
like-minded partners on
space science and
technology missions
leads to significant
benefits and success for
all partners.”
As part of a
collaboration between
SSTL and Astrium, SSTL
is currently
manufacturing a medium
resolution imaging
satellite for the
Republic of Kazakhstan
which is due for launch
in 2014. This spacecraft
is an updated variant of
the SSTL-150 platform
developed for the
RapidEye constellation,
and includes many recent
developments that
improve agility and data
capability. As part of
this contract, 16
engineers from KGS
worked at SSTL on the
mission under a training
and development
programme.
Earlier in the year, the
UK Space Agency signed a
Memorandum of
Understanding with the
Kazak space agency
Kazcosmos, promoting
collaborative missions
recognising the
synergies between the
capabilities and
strengths in the UK and
Kazak space sectors.
