Chemring Technology Solutions' Gioconda industry consortium has been awarded an extension to an existing contract to support the UK Ministry of Defence's (MoD) Defence Science and Technology Laboratory's (Dstl) nano-satellites research project. The work under the extension follows on from the consortium's initial contract, which delivered a major element of Dstl's CubeSat research project.
The Gioconda consortium is comprised of Chemring Technology Solutions as prime, responsible for specialist payload system studies and innovative antenna developments; Scisys Ltd, providing space consultancy; and Clyde Space Ltd, a new member of the consortium that will enable exploitation of technologies from the commercial CubeSat domain.
The consortium will deliver engineering prototypes of a nano-satellite payload to allow the assessment of their capabilities and suitability for subsequent deployment in space within a CubeSat.
A CubeSat is a type of miniaturised satellite currently being developed for space research. It usually has a volume of exactly one litre (10 cm cube), a mass less than 1 kg, and typically uses commercial-off-the-shelf electronic components. CubeSats offer the opportunity to demonstrate novel technologies that offer the potential for achieving revolutionary and affordable space capability in Low Earth Orbit for sensing and communications applications.