08-20-2024
The UK has sent its first military spy satellite into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to take daytime images and videos of the Earth’s surface.
The rocket was launched from Vandenberg Space Center in California, as part of the mission. Carrier 11 From the American company.
The Tyche satellite is the flagship system in the £968 million ($1.2 billion) ISTARI programme, which aims to create a multi-satellite ISR constellation, alongside future ground systems, by 2031. Tyche will also contribute to natural disaster monitoring, environmental monitoring and climate change impact assessment.
Tyche will operate in low Earth orbit (LEO) until 2029, followed by three other British research and development satellites (Juno, Oberon and Titania) that belong to the £127 million ($164 million) MINERVA technology and innovation programme.
The results and conclusions of MINERVA will determine the long-term development of ISTARI.
London has described the design and build phase of Tyche, first announced in April 2022, as “a critical first step in identifying the processing power, radio frequency and imaging capabilities UK Space Command needs to provide timely space intelligence processing power, radio frequency and imaging capabilities UK Space Command needs to provide timely space intelligence.”
The Tyche satellite, which weighs 150 kilograms and is about the size of a washing machine, was built by Surrey Satellites Technology Limited under a £22 million ($28 million) contract awarded by Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the UK’s military procurement department.
Aside from ISTARI, the UK is currently investing in upgrading its existing Skynet 5 military satellite constellation to the more modern Skynet 6 system.
Airbus has a contract worth more than £500 million ($610 million) to buy SKYNET 6A, the future military communications satellite due to launch in 2025 and based on the Eurostar Neo satellite communications platform.
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