From day two of World Space Business Week in Paris, Laura Todd speaks with Andrew Cawthorne, Managing Director of SSTL, the UK satellite manufacturer that celebrated its 40th anniversary last year.
Cawthorne describes an impressive breadth of current work. Lunar Pathfinder, the company’s first satellite bound for the Moon, launches early next year with both ESA and NASA as anchor customers, and will provide communications relay for a NASA mission to the lunar far side – a programme he sees as having a bright commercial future given the level of lunar activity now planned on both sides of the Atlantic. On the commercial side, SSTL is building the HotSat series for mid-wave infrared Earth observation. Defence work is similarly busy, including a maritime domain awareness SAR satellite for the Norwegian government and a second ISR satellite for UK Space Command. The company’s export business is also active, with a satellite for the Philippines about to launch, built alongside a training programme that taught Philippine Space Agency engineers how to build spacecraft.
Perhaps the most intriguing project is a space telescope being built for the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Foundation, designed to study exoplanets and supernova remnants. With a 3.5-metre diameter mirror, it represents a departure in scale for SSTL – but not in method. The company is applying the same small-satellite approach that defines its heritage: COTS parts, vertical integration, and a distinctive approach to product assurance.
That philosophy shapes Cawthorne’s view of the market. With significant defence spending flowing across Europe, he sees opportunity expanding for everyone, including new entrants gaining first chances they might not otherwise have had. Looking a few years ahead, he expects more competition and more organisations with real satellite-building experience. SSTL’s position, as he describes it, sits between new space and traditional space – retaining the agility of newer players while offering the track record and reputation associated with established ones, though he expects more challenge from below.
On the newly published UK space strategy, Cawthorne is positive but measured. Its focus on national security and defence, alongside growth supported by exports, sends the right signals, as does the more interventionist approach of backing specific companies rather than spreading support thinly. The intent, he says, has been clearly set out – the challenge now lies in the execution.
