Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) of Britain will build a spectrometer for Europe’s Sentinel 5 Precursor environmental monitoring satellite under a contract valued at 10.69 million euros ($14 million), SSTL announced Jan. 5. The satellite is scheduled for launch in 2014.
Under the contract, for which the customer is Dutch Space, SSTL will lead a team including the Netherlands’ Institute for Space Research (SRON) and Sofradir of France to build a short-wave infrared spectrometer to be integrated onto the Dutch Space-led Tropomi instrument.
Tropomi, or Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument, is being funded by the Dutch government and the 18-nation European Space Agency. Sentinel 5 Precursor is part of ESA’s contribution to Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, or GMES, environmental monitoring program.
