Minister Diana Morant celebrated that England had taken “decisive steps” to join the Athletics Constellation

MADRID, November 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The UK aspires to join Portugal and Spain as members of the Atlantic Constellation and contribute with the new Pathfinder satellite, which adds to the innovative network for data exchange and monitoring of the Earth and coasts, as announced by the UK Space Agency.

This new commitment, announced at the opening of the UK Space Conference in Belfast, will strengthen the UK’s national capabilities in Earth observation technology and complement the UK’s contribution to the EU’s Copernicus programme, the European Space Agency and bilateral missions.

The UK Space Agency will provide £3 million to support the construction of the new Pathfinder satellite, which will be one of the first in the Constellation, with co-funding from Open Cosmos, which is based at the Harwell campus in Oxfordshire, England, and facilities in Barcelona.

The Atlantic Constellation is a flagship global project for the development of a constellation of small satellites for ocean, Earth and climate monitoring.

The satellite built in the UK will have the same design and will be launched in the same orbital plane as the three other satellites from Portugal that make up the first set of the constellation. This will significantly increase the frequency of revisit times early in the formation of a Constellation, offering valuable, regularly updated data and supporting critical services such as natural disaster detection, monitoring and mitigation.

“Earth observation will play a very important role in addressing global challenges such as climate change and disaster relief, as well as providing data
we need quickly while supporting key UK industries such as agriculture and energy,” said UK Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Andrew Griffith.

Likewise, Griffith added that, by working with Open Cosmos on the new satellite and supporting its Atlantic partners, Spain and Portugal, they can “harness space technology” for shared purposes, while creating “new opportunities and jobs for the future”.

“Building a shared satellite constellation is a very effective way to have a variety of data in each region of interest. The UK joining Portugal and Spain in the Atlantic Constellation is a major step forward in the national EO strategy and we “We are very proud that Open Cosmos has been contracted to deliver the UK’s first Pathfinder satellite,” said founder and CEO of satellite manufacturing company Open Cosmos, Rafael Jorda Siquier.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, stressed that it was “great news” that the UK had taken “decisive steps” to join the Atlantic Constellation, led by Spain and Portugal.

“This will increase the frequency of Earth observations and our ability to respond to fires and other natural disasters,” said Minister Morant.