UK's First Military Satellite Boosts Forces' ISR Capability

The U.K. has just launched the first of a new series of satellites into space to provide key real-time intelligence for its Armed Forces' military operations. 

Named "Tyche" after the Greek goddess of good fortune, the 150kg payload went into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket on Friday night.

It's the first satellite to be launched under the Ministry of Defence’s space-based ISR Minerva programme, a £127 million science, technology and innovation initiative named after the Roman goddess of wisdom and focused on integrating space with land, air, sea and cyber technologies.

Minerva is itself part of a wider programme, Istari, a £968 million project seeking to deliver across the next seven years a multi-satellite system to support greater global surveillance and intelligence for military operations.

Tyche has been designed and built by British firm Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) via a £22 million contract from the Ministry of Defence (MoD)'s Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) arm.

SSTL received the first signals from Tyche in orbit a few hours after lift-off. The satellite is U.K. Space Command’s first Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) satellite which can capture daytime images and videos of the Earth’s surface. 

As per an MoD press release, Tyce and its sister satellites will eventually not only support military operations, but also contribute to other government tasks, including natural disaster monitoring, the development of mapping information, environmental monitoring and tracking the impact of climate change around the world.   

Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry, Maria Eagle said  Tyche "...shows the U.K.’s commitment to support innovation in science and technology, stimulating growth across the sector and supporting highly skilled jobs in the UK.” 

U.K. Space Commander, Major General Paul Tedman said:  “This is a fabulous day for UK space. The successful launch of Tyche has shown that UK Space Command, and its essential partners across defence and industry, can rapidly take a concept through to the delivery of a satellite capability on orbit.”    

Paul Russell, DE&S Space Team Leader, said the launch represented an “incredibly proud moment.” 

UK Space Command is a joint command established in 2021, located at RAF High Wycombe responsible for space operations, space workforce and space capability.

According to SSTL, Tyche features a high-resolution optical payload delivering sub-1m digital imagery with an Inter-Satellite Link and onboard processing capability. Andrew Cawthorne, the firm's managing director, commented: “The UK now has a sovereign space-based ISR capability which is a major milestone on the path to delivering the UK Defence Space Strategy. It is a very proud day for all involved.”