The U.S. subsidiary of Britain’s Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. — known as SST-US — is marketing hosted payload accommodations aboard the Orbital Test Bed (OTB) ride-share mission it plans to launch to low Earth orbit in early 2015.
The OTB spacecraft, according to the Englewood, Colo.-based company’s website, has room for up to 50 kilograms of ancillary payloads and is expected to operate for five years after commissioning. SST-US said in an April 11 press release that the mission offers government and commercial customers “reliable, low risk access to orbit and enables them to rapidly and cost effectively space-qualify new technology, acquire mission experience and generate in-orbit data — while sharing the cost of the satellite and the launch.”
