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25-470: The Commercial Lunar Mission Support Services ( CLMSS ), also called Lunar Mission Support Services ( LMSS ) is a collaboration between Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) and the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop lunar telecommunications and navigation infrastructure to support lunar scientific and economic development. The collaboration agreement, announced on 17 April 2018, proposes

50-523: A 10% stake in SSTL from Surrey University; speaking on the purchase, Elon Musk stated: "SSTL is a high-quality company that is probably the world leader in small satellites. We look at this as more a case of similar corporate cultures getting together". The University of Surrey then awarded Musk an honorary doctorate . In April 2008, the University of Surrey agreed to sell its majority share in SSTL, roughly 80% of

75-665: A lower cost of design, construction and launch, albeit at a cost of a more frequent failure rate, in comparison to larger and more costly units. These features has been marketed towards customers such as the DMC. In summer 2008, Surrey formed an American subsidiary, Surrey Satellite Technology-US , in Douglas County, Colorado , intent on serving US customers in the smallsat market. In June 2017, SSTL announced their intention to close their Colorado satellite manufacturing facility, opting to instead consolidate all of its manufacturing activity in

100-551: A step-wise approach to implementing a sustainable commercial service to support both orbiting and landed lunar assets. Dozens of different commercial, private and public missions to the Moon are planned for the coming decades, so the Commercial Lunar Mission Support Services (CLMSS) project intends to provide a sustainable communications and navigation infrastructure. While the signed agreement covers missions to

125-532: The UoSat-1 test satellite. It funds research projects with the university's Surrey Space Centre , which does research into satellite and space topics. In April 2008, the University of Surrey agreed to sell its majority share in the company to European multinational conglomerate EADS Astrium . In August 2008, SSTL opened a US subsidiary, which included both offices and a production site in Denver , Colorado ; in 2017,

150-624: The Internet Protocol for payload data transfer and command and control, so extending the Internet into space, and allowing experiments with the Interplanetary Internet to be carried out. Many of the technologies used in the design of the DMC satellites, including Internet Protocol use, were tested in space beforehand on SSTL's earlier UoSAT-12 satellite . During June 2004, American private space company SpaceX arranged to acquire

175-625: The Sunday Times Top 100 companies to work for . In 2020, SSTL started the creation of a telecommunications spacecraft called Lunar Pathfinder for lunar missions. It will be launched in 2025 and used for data transmission to Earth. During the early decades of the Cold War era, access to space was effectively the privilege of a handful of superpowers ; by the 1970s, only the most affluent of countries could afford to engage in space programmes due to extreme complexity and expenses involved. Despite

200-544: The University of Surrey , it is presently wholly owned by Airbus Defence and Space . The company began out of research efforts centred upon amateur radio satellites , known by the UoSAT (University of Surrey Satellite) name or by an OSCAR (Orbital Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio) designation. SSTL was founded in 1985, following successful trials on the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components on satellites, cumulating in

225-477: The Moon, there is the potential to apply a similar service for Mars in the future. ESA will be the anchor customer for services from Lunar Pathfinder, a dedicated lunar communications relay spacecraft launching in 2026. SSTL Lunar, the Lunar Pathfinder service provider, aims to offer lunar communications for commercial and institutional customers in support of prospecting, exploring, and ultimately utilising

250-578: The Southern Lunar Hemisphere each day, with maximum opportunities for the transmission and reception of data between Earth and the lunar surface. As well as offering communication services to orbiters and lunar surface assets, Lunar Pathfinder will also host some navigation and science experiments: Some of SSTL's key technology development needed for the mission have been supported by the UK Space Agency through ESA. For surface assets on

275-456: The UK. Sarah Parker, SSTL's managing director, said that the rapid growth of new competing firms in the small satellite sector had changed the marketplace, necessitating reorganisation, which has included the increased use of outsourcing . Between 2010 and 2020 SSTL manufactured and delivered 34 navigation payloads for the deployment phase of Galileo, Europe's satellite navigation system. OHB System AG

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300-605: The award at their company premises by one of the King's representatives, a Lord-lieutenant . Recipients are also able to fly the King's Awards flag at their main office, and use the emblem on marketing materials such as packaging and adverts. Every May 6, the Anniversary of the Coronation of King Charles III, winners of the King's Awards for Enterprise are officially announced in a special Gazette supplement. The Queen's Award to Industry,

325-606: The company decided to discontinue manufacturing activity in the US, winding up this subsidiary. SSTL was awarded the Queen's Award for Technological Achievement in 1998, and the Queen's Awards for Enterprise in 2005. In 2006 SSTL won the Times Higher Education award for outstanding contribution to innovation and technology. In 2009, SSTL ranked 89 out of the 997 companies that took part in

350-439: The company's capital, to European multinational conglomerate EADS Astrium . SSTL has remained an independent entity despite all shares having been purchased by Airbus , the parent company of EADS Astrium. During 2005, SSTL completed construction of GIOVE -A1 , the first test satellite for Europe's Galileo space navigation system. In 2010 and 2012, the firm was awarded contracts to supply 22 navigation payloads for Galileo,

375-562: The established satellite industry. The team's first satellite, UoSAT-1 , was assembled in a small university lab, using in a cleanroom fabricated from B&Q and integrating printed circuit boards designed by hand on a kitchen table. In 1981, UoSAT-1 was launched with NASA 's aid; representing the first modern reprogrammable small satellite, it outlived its planned three-year life by more than five years. Having successfully demonstrated that relatively compact and inexpensive satellites could be rapidly built to perform sophisticated missions,

400-475: The exorbitant costs to produce and launch, early satellites could only offer limited functionality, having no ability to be reprogrammed once in orbit. During the late 1970s, a group of researchers at the University of Surrey, headed by Martin Sweeting, were experimenting with the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components in satellite construction; if found viable, such techniques would be highly disruptive to

425-452: The far side of the Moon, which are without of line of sight to the Earth, data relay services are essential to communicate "back to base". For polar surface assets, potentially with limited direct to Earth visibility, the use of the data-relay service provides the assurance of a communication link, whenever the terrain blocks direct communication. Rovers, constrained to remain within line of sight of

450-497: The far side of the Moon. Lunar Pathfinder's communications relay service will be a mission enabler, providing a vital bridge between Earth and the lunar surface. Exploring the far side of the Moon, particularly the South Pole Aitkin Basin, is a key area for future robotic and human exploration due to its chemical and mineral composition. The stable elliptical orbit of Lunar Pathfinder will allow for long duration visibility of

475-419: The lander to relay their data, will find a new independence, both in how far they can travel from the lander and how long they can survive beyond the lander's limited lifetime. For all lunar missions, including orbiters and near side surface assets which could manage with direct to Earth communication (DTE), there is an additional economical and technical benefit to using the proximity data-relay service. Due to

500-467: The last of which was delivered during 2016. During 2017, SSTL was awarded a contract to supply a further 12 payloads; this was viewed as a coup in light of the political backdrop surrounding Brexit . During the 2010s, SSTL has been working on various improvements in its satellite technology, such as synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) as well as smaller and lighter units. According to Luis Gomes, SSTL's head of Earth observation, micro-satellites translate to

525-559: The launch of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) and an associated child company, DMC International Imaging . Some of these satellites also include other imaging payloads and experimental payloads: onboard hardware-based image compression (on BilSAT), a GPS reflectometry experiment and onboard Internet router (on the UK-DMC satellite). The DMC satellites are notable for communicating with their ground stations using

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550-411: The proximity of the Lunar Pathfinder spacecraft, user assets could achieve higher data-rates with a simpler, lighter and lower cost communication module on-board, compared with the equipment needed for DTE communication. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd , or SSTL , is a company involved in the manufacture and operation of small satellites . A spin-off company of

575-465: The scheme's original title, was instituted by Royal Warrant in 1965. It became the Queen's Awards for Export and Technology in 1975, with Environmental Achievement added in 1992. In 1999, the scheme became the Queen's Awards for Enterprise, with International Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Development as the categories. In 2017, a fourth category was introduced, Promoting Opportunity (through social mobility). From 2005 individuals were also recognised with

600-493: The team decided to take further steps to commercialise their research. During 1985, Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) was founded in Guildford , Surrey , United Kingdom as a spin-off venture from the university. Since its founding, it has steadily grown, having worked with numerous international customers to launch over 70 satellites over the course of three decades. In 2002, SSTL moved into remote sensing services with

625-428: Was the prime contractor and builder of the spacecraft platform and SSTL had full responsibility for the navigation payloads, the brains of Galileo's navigation system. 51°14′31″N 0°37′01″W  /  51.24194°N 0.61694°W  / 51.24194; -0.61694 Queen%27s Awards for Enterprise Each award is valid for five years: recipients are invited to a royal reception and are presented with

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