• Question: how many satellites have you built and what was your favourite?

    Asked by thus137jar on 1 Nov 2021.
    • Photo: Harriet Gamble

      Harriet Gamble answered on 6 Oct 2021:

      Hi, I have worked on three satellites so far. One of them is called NovaSAR and it launched in 2018 (you can find out more here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46312874). The one I am working on now is called ROSE-L which is part of a big programme for the European Space Agency called Copernicus and it will launch in 2028 ( more information here: https://www.copernicus.eu/en/about-copernicus/). I think my favourite is ROSE-L because it can be used to help us learn more about climate change by showing us how polar ice caps are shrinking and rain forests are disappearing. I can also be used to predict natural disasters like volcano eruptions and earthquakes so people can move to safety.

    • Photo: Natasha Pushkin

      Natasha Pushkin answered on 6 Oct 2021:

      Technically I have not built any. We have a department called AIT (assembly, integration and test) who do the actual building. They work in specially designed cleanrooms and do jobs such as welding pipework, attaching heaters/temperature sensors and putting special coatings on panels.

      I work on the design of the satellite. I’ve worked on many over the years as the telecommunications ones (those that provide you with TV and GPS) get built quite quickly. The more bespoke ones, such as Mars Sample Return take longer.

      My favourites are AMU1 and Sentinel 6 as I got to work on these though early design, build, test and launch. S6 looks at the Earth’s oceans and AMU1 provides TV/internet. It’s great to follow a project through all the stages.

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