23 May 2024
by Olivia Savage
UK Space Command’s debut satellite will hitch a ride on SpaceX’s Transporter-11 Rideshare mission, a Falcon 9 rocket launching multiple small satellites. Pictured is a model of Tyche displayed at DSEI 2023. (Janes/Olivia Savage)
UK Space Command’s first satellite – Tyche – will be launched by July 2024, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 21 May.
The spacecraft, built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), will launch onboard the SpaceX Transporter-11 Rideshare mission from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in the US.
Tyche is a 150 kg research and development (R&D) concept demonstrator spacecraft, based on the company’s Carbonite family of electro-optical (EO) satellites, which was initially scheduled to launch in 2023.
Maintaining a 500 km low Earth orbit (LEO), the satellite will use water to manoeuvre in space, the announcement detailed.
Tyche is one of the concept demonstrators being built under project Minerva, which aims to test and demonstrate the various technologies that will underpin the future GBP970 million (USD1.23 billion) ISTARI multisatellite intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) constellation.
Commodore Dave Moody, head of Space Capability at UK Space Command, told Janes in 2023
Get the full article by
subscribing to Janes
Already a Janes subscriber?
Keep reading