The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is providing £3m to support the build of the new pathfinder satellite – intended to be one of the first in the Atlantic Constellation project – with co-funding from Open Cosmos, based at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire. 

This Constellation will consist of 16 satellites equipped with Earth observation and telecommunications payloads. Once operational, it will provide observations every three hours, which help to provide forewarning of upcoming natural disasters alongside broader climate monitoring.

The satellite, which will be built in the UK, will be of the same design and launched in the same orbital plane as three others from Portugal, becoming the first batch sent up for the Constellation.

Science minister Andrew Griffith said: “Earth observation will play an absolutely vital role in tackling global challenges like climate change and disaster relief, providing the data we need at speed, while supporting...