Part of a wider £15m government investment announced in 2022, The Earth Observation for Marine and Climate Mission (EO4MCM) development programme aims to identify and develop instruments for applications relating to climate change, maritime and net-zero, which are suitable for deployment on constellations of small satellites.
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) has announced the seven projects that make up the programme. These projects aim to fill gaps in our understanding of the complex climate system, helping us monitor more accurately whether crucial climate targets are being met, and the effectiveness of interventions mitigating the effects of climate change.
Through collaboration with government, academia, industry, and international partners, the EO4MCM projects will establish new mission technologies and concepts to help the UK prepare for future challenges.
Andy Vick, EO4MCM programme lead and Head of Disruptive Technology at RAL Space, said:
“This programme gives UK technologists an opportunity to show what they can do with a new-space constellation and leverages our leadership in small satellites. It will hopefully demonstrate the affordability of these technologies and their benefits alongside larger scale European programmes."
RAL Space EO4MCM projects
MUX-LHR: Multiplexed Laser Heterodyne Radiometer (£364,667) – STFC RAL Space
The Laser Heterodyne Radiometer (LHR) is a compact, lightweight and low power instrument for performing atmospheric composition measurements from small satellite platforms. The Multiplexed LHR (MUX-LHR) will record spectral information simultaneously rather than sequentially, significantly reducing measurement times compared to the current instrument. This is a necessary development that will make scalable constellations viable.
The MUX-LHR has potential to address three important areas:
- Climate change monitoring, particularly greenhouse emission monitoring
- Improved data for use in numerical weather prediction
- Air quality monitoring, including pollutant emissions, transport and exposure
SOLSTICE: Solar Occultation Limb Sounding Transformative Instruments for Climate Exploration (£495,894) – STFC RAL Space
SOLSTICE aims to improve monitoring of changes in the atmosphere using two instruments working together: HIROS (High-resolution InfraRed Occultation Sounder) is a thermal infrared spectrometer providing information on atmospheric transmission of gases, and HSDI (Hyperspectral Solar Disc Imager) is an imager for water vapour, aerosols and air pressure. Working together, these instruments will enable highly accurate and high-resolution atmospheric composition measurements on a cubesat platform. This will help address a gap in our understanding of the impact of greenhouse gases in particular atmospheric regions.
Terrahertz SmallSat for EO (£73,000) – STFC RAL Space
The aim of the project is to establish the concept of a single–THz-channel, atmospheric limb-sounding mission for the upper atmosphere that can be deployed on a cube- or small-satellite platform.
Such a mission would resemble a descoped version of RAL Space's Earth Explorer candidate mission, Keystone, which aims to study a range of atmospheric processes as well as the impacts of space weather. It could deliver much of the Keystone science, but in contrast to a full-fledged Earth Explorer satellite, would be suitable for implementation through a smaller space programme. This study will define the cornerstones of such a mission (i.e. the scientific and engineering budgets and requirements).
Remaining projects
Sensing NO2 Emissions to Evaluate net-Zero Initiatives (SNEEZI) (£498,916) – University of Edinburgh
Avoiding the worst impacts of climate change relies on measuring and reducing emissions of atmospheric greenhouse gases, including nitrogen dioxide (NO2). SNEEZI is a novel instrument designed to measure NO2 at high resolution from a constellation of small satellites. During the project, the team will capture mission requirements, develop a business case, provide a conceptual design of the SNEEZI satellite instrument, and perform laboratory trials of the core technology basis, building on existing instrument concepts.
BoatSeek (£493,693) – Satellite Vu Ltd with support from Leonardo UK and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd
The BoatSeek project aims to develop a high-performance infrared detector for marine and climate applications. It will enhance an existing detector to result in a larger volume of high-resolution thermal image data and enable broader area coverage for applications including illegal fishing, forest fire monitoring, and vegetation stress for high-value agriculture.
Climate for Earth (CLEAR) (£499,515) – Surrey Satellite Technology
CLEAR will design a new generation of low-cost sensors that can help fill the data gaps needed to tackle climate change, including understanding how the surface temperature of Britain and its surrounding waters are changing.
GLAMIS: Global swath-mapping lidar satellite and its applications (£256,762) – Space Flow Ltd.
Climate models of forest carbon storage have high levels of uncertainty. To improve carbon forecast estimates, we need good data on what there is now and how it is changing. More reliable carbon maps are also required for monitoring and verification of off-setting schemes and carbon credits.
Through a constellation of small satellites, GLAMIS will increase the density of coverage of forest quality data altimetry. A collaboration of leading UK institutions and companies has been assembled under the leadership of the University of Edinburgh to develop a new LiDAR modality and new instrument for GLAMIS.
Within the context of the EO4MCM programme the core elements are being taken to the level of preliminary design, which will create a platform for UK entities to make a major contribution to the GLAMIS mission.
