NovaSAR is a programme to fly a novel low cost SAR instrument into Low Earth Orbit. The mission, approved late in 2011 and due for launch in 2014, is a joint programme between UK HMG and a partnership of UK Industry led by SSTL.
The mission itself comprises a satellite segment that will exploit capabilities of the existing SSTL/Astrium partnership and a data segment that offers the potential for new capabilities and new partners to be introduced.
We therefore propose to hold an industry day on 4 July 2012 at SSTL’s premises in Guildford to provide the opportunity for interaction between potential contributors to the NovaSAR project.
The envisaged format of the day will include an introductory briefing on the current status of the NovaSAR project, followed by a technical description of the system, both provided by SSTL.
The Satellite Applications Catapult delivery team will describe how it is envisaged that the community would be able to take advantage of Catapult programmes for the future development and demonstration of novel services and applications that leverage the capabilities of NovaSAR.
Potential participants in the Industry Day will then be invited to provide short presentations, lasting anything up to 15 minutes, on areas in which they might like to contribute to the project.
It is envisaged that such contributions to the meeting will focus primarily on potential applications of the system, including elements of the ground segment, the processing and exploitation chain, etc.
There will, however, also be scope for participants to propose small adjunct payloads which might fly in space alongside the SAR on the same platform. It is assumed that these payloads would generate additional data sets which could subsequently be combined with data from the radar into novel data products – taking advantage of the opportunity to collect contemporaneous, or near-contemporaneous, data.
A “Commercial in Confidence” caveat will be applied to all the material presented, and we hope to enhance the overall scope of the mission and identify synergies similar to those which emerged during the TDS-1 programme.
To assist in the scheduling of the event, could potential presenters please contact Dr Stuart Eves to confirm attendance. (s.eves@sstl.co.uk; 01483 803885)
The aim of the Industry Day is explicitly to broaden the team of participants in the project, and we very much hope that you will be able to join us.
Draft Agenda
10:00 Introduction and Welcome to SSTL – Luis Gomes, SSTL
10:10 Introduction to NovaSAR project – Caroline Slim, SSTL
10:30 Technical description of the NovaSAR system – Phil Whittaker and Rachel Bird, SSTL
11:00 Catapult Centre Presentation – Paul Febvre, Inmarsat
11:15 Coffee
11:30 Presentations from potential contributors
13:00 Lunch
13:30 Summary of discussion and actions – Dr Stuart Eves, SSTL
13:40 Close of formal session
13:45 Opportunities for more detailed one-on-one discussions as required
15:00 Depart
