Surrey Satellite Technology Limited has announced a £100m project to launch three new spacecraft to image the surface of the Earth.
The announcement was made by the company’s founder Martin Sweeting at the International Astronautical Congress, which is taking place in Prague.
The satellites, expected to go into orbit in 2013, will have a maximum resolution of one metre. The company has already built similar imaging satellites for the UK government as well as those in Spain, Nigeria and China.
Under the new project SSTL and its Surrey-based partner DMCii will instead lease time on the satellites to paying customers – likely to be a much more profitable business model.