About SSTL

SSTL's facilities are located on four sites in south east England and provide all the facilities necessary for the company's vertically integrated operation - from satellite and payload design, through to manufacturing, test and post-launch operations.

Headquarters and Mission Control Centre

Tycho House is located on the Surrey Research Park in Guildford and accommodates the company's mission analysis, engineering, project management, operations and administration teams. The site also includes a full suite of design laboratories.

In-orbit operations are performed by SSTL from its Mission Control Centre at Tycho House. The automated centre is linked by high-speed connections to the internet enabling the control of its spacecraft from other SSTL-equipped ground stations across the world. Whilst many SSTL customers control their own missions from SSTL supplied ground stations, our facility is always available for back-up operational support.


SSTL Mission ControlKey features of our Mission Control Centre:

  • Single operator control
  • Multiple mission support
  • Custom control software
  • Telemetry monitoring
  • Single rack
  • Time standard
  • Certification


Tycho House contact & location details
 
 

Manufacturing, Integration and Test Facilities

SSTL's clean rooms and integration hall are located on the University of Surrey campus, close to the Surrey Research Park. Each area is specifically designed for efficient manufacturing and handling of small satellites and can accommodate up to six satellites simultaneously.

Manufacturing, Integration and Test Facilities contact and location details





 

Optics Facility

SSTL Very High Resolution Imager on testSSTL's Optical Payload Group is located at Rayleigh House in Sevenoaks, Kent and accommodates 30 specialist optics engineers. Rayleigh House is equipped with: a suite of Class 1000 and Class 100 clean rooms; laboratories for detector evaluation and electronics development; precision workshop equipped with CNC and manual machines; vibration and thermal vacuum test equipment; co-ordinate measuring machines; interferometers and purpose-built equipment for testing optical instruments.

Optics Facility contact and location details 

 

Composites Facility



SSTL has a dedicated composites facility at Bordon, Hampshire. The facility's primary function is the manufacture of composite components and structures and features a climate-conrolled Lay-up Room, Processing Area, dedicated Surface Preparation Area and a Trimming and Finishing facility. Equipment installed includes a Large Processing Oven, Vapour Degreasing Tank, 'Vapormaster' Shot Blast Cabinet, Walk-in Freezer and early in 2010 a composites curing Autoclave will be commissioned.

 Composites Facility contact and location details