Bath Space Weather Sensors to Launch into Orbit in 2027

­Space weather sensors developed at the University of Bath satellite are set for launch into orbit, as part of a mission announced this week.

The TOPCAT II satellite payload, created to take measurements of atmospheric conditions in space to inform improvements to technologies including GPS, will be part of the Orpheus mission set to launch in 2027.

Created by Dr Robert Watson and Professor Cathryn Mitchell in Bath’s Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, TOPCAT (Topside ionosphere Computer Assisted Tomography) will monitor Earth’s upper atmosphere to better understand space weather and help improve GPS and communications technology.

Announced by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) this week, the £5.15 million Orpheus mission has been awarded to Astroscale UK, with whom Bath is partnering, as part of a collaborative effort between UK industry, government and academia – as well as international government partners in Canada and the US.

Orpheus is a successor to the Prometheus-2 and CIRCE missions, in which the first TOPCAT satellite payload took part, that were lost aboard the Virgin Orbit launch in 2023.

The TOPCAT II payload, measuring just 9 x 7 cm, carries an advanced multi-frequency GPS receiver to estimate the total electron content of the ionosphere. This will give scientists and engineers new data that will allow them to better understand space weather phenomena, and also help design resilient future satellites.

Prof Cathryn Mitchell said: “This is an exciting opportunity for us to have our space weather instrument on a satellite and to use the data in the University of Bath MIDAS imaging data assimilation, an advanced algorithm that gives us a highly accurate three-dimensional image of the Earth's ionosphere and its evolution in time. 

“Orpheus will have a major impact on the UK’s capability in space weather.”

Dr Robert Watson added: “This will enable what we have always wanted to do with the previous CIRCE mission, to join our measurements with those taken by colleagues at the US Naval Research Laboratory and do great science.”

Dstl Chief Executive, Dr Paul Hollinshead, said: “Changes in space weather can have a critical impact on satellites which provide navigation aids, telecommunications and data transmission. Sustained investment in space research in collaboration with our international partners strengthens the security of UK interests in space.”

The suite of payloads carried on Orpheus will generate observations enabling a greater understanding of the driving processes of geophysical phenomena in the ionosphere-thermosphere system, distributed across a wide range of latitudes.

Understanding the characteristics of the dynamic ionosphere is vital for a range of both civil and defence applications, such as the Global Navigation Satellite System, communications, sensing technology and space sustainability.

The fully funded project will run for 3 years and will conclude in 2028. It will cover the complete lifecycle of the mission, from design through to launch, operations and disposal.