A Cornish company has played a key role in the successful launch of a new multinational satellite project.
Microwave engineering company, Flann Microwave, designed and supplied supply critical waveguide equipment for the first-ever global survey of Earth’s surface water.
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite is the first-of-its-kind to survey the surface water on Earth, observe ocean surface topography, and measure the changes in these bodies of water over time.
Launched last Friday (Dec 16) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the SWOT satellite was jointly developed and managed by NASA, the French Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, and the UK Space Agency.
Following previous adoption of Flann Microwave’s high-precision test and measurement product range, the SWOT is the first collaborative spaceflight project between Flann and NASA.
Sam Brokenshire, technical sales manager at Flann Microwave, said: “The space market is currently growing exponentially. At this moment in time, the space market for Flann accounts for less than 5% of current projects but we could be seeing this value increase significantly over just the next few years.”
