SSTL designs cheap radar satellite, UK government kicks in ₤21 million to build it

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While we have an innate fear of the eye in the sky (and the role it'll play in the coming robot apocalypse), there's no doubt that observation satellites do a lot of good -- from recording weather and climate changes to helping coordinate relief efforts in the wake of natural disasters. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) has plans to beef up planetary monitoring capabilities with its new NovaSAR satellite, and the company just received ₤21 million from the UK government to make it happen. NovaSAR works using synthetic aperture radar, so it can see through clouds (unlike optical satellites) and offers its services for ₤45 million -- or 20 percent of the cost of existing space radar platforms. With governmental funding in hand, SSTL can begin to develop and build its first such satellite, and the plan is to put it in orbit in two or three years. If NovaSAR does what it's been designed to do, SSTL hopes it can sell and launch enough of them so that any place on earth can be under its gaze in less than 24 hours. We're all for improving disaster relief efforts, but if you spy these sats overhead on a clear night, we recommend keeping an ear to the ground in case they're guiding an army of Alpha Dogs your way.

Continue reading SSTL designs cheap radar satellite, UK government kicks in ₤21 million to build it

SSTL designs cheap radar satellite, UK government kicks in ₤21 million to build it originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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