The Space Advisory Company (SAC), founded in 2009, is a satellite programme and systems consulting and engineering bureau situated in Somerset West, South Africa. According to the company’s website, their “programme management and systems engineering expertise specialises in adding value to satellite programmes through facilitating solutions for customers on missions, systems and sub-system levels.”
Furthermore, they “provide world-class training at the customer’s facilities or at our office in Somerset West.”
Their dynamic and experienced Space Advisory team has contributed in leading roles on a number of South African and international satellite missions. Amongst the latest projects being worked on is the upcoming South African earth observation satellite, EoSAT-1, in addition to camera and electronics payloads for various international nano and micro-satellites, as well as complete satellite programs.
IT News Africa spoke to Duncan Stanton, CEO of the Space Advisory Company, who answered the following questions:
What is the core focus of your business?
The core focus of the business is unlocking value within the space engineering sector through consultancy, innovation and co-engineering. Integrating and providing key skills either remotely or on-site for international and local satellite programs is the core business. Designing and developing remote sensing satellites as well as lightweight high-performance payloads for these satellites has seen significant growth in the past years, firmly establishing the capability within the company. Integrating the consultancy and innovation focus areas is done through industrial training of local and international specialists within the field of space through our in-house academy.
What has been your company’s highlight of 2018?
Our highlights during the year to date have been around the success of our operational camera payloads in space, as well as supplying a critical controller unit for a deep space mission. Aboard the Chang’e-4 relay satellite, launched on 21 May 2018, the controller unit for radio astronomy instrument was designed and supplied by SAC to Radboud University as part of the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer, to be deployed around 80,000 kilometres beyond the moon. The Gecko Camera, the winner of the innovation award at tt100, has successfully completed more than a year and half of operation onboard the nSight-1 satellite, regularly taking some spectacular images of the earth’s surface – incredible considering that the camera is able to fit into the palm of your hand – travelling more than 7km every second and weighing less than half a kilogram. Currently, the recent success of the early operation from the Tegu camera launched on 9 July 2018 has delivered the first high-resolution imagery as it is undergoing commissioning. As the images become available, they will be shared on our website. Please visit at www.spaceadvisory.com.
Can you tell us about your future plans, upcoming projects, etc.?
Space Advisory Company remains committed to its long-term partners in providing world-class engineering services to them. We are excited to continue with the crucial contribution that is made to the SKA project in the form of a core SAC systems engineering team on the science data processor, continuing to evolve as the project shortly enters the next phase. Next on the roadmap of payloads is the Chameleon imager, a very high performance hyperspectral nano-satellite camera. This product will be flight ready by December, with the qualification model undergoing final environmental testing as we speak. Two very exciting systems being worked on are a lightweight high-performance 150kg, 1-meter resolution optical satellite as well as a 250kg radar imaging satellite optimised for maritime domain awareness – check out our website for all of the systems in development. We are looking forward to rapidly expanding on the heritage that we have established in space through our current operational satellites, cameras and electronics systems.
How has winning the tt100 Award impacted your business?
The major impact was seen in the staff; the importance of receiving national recognition for cutting-edge engineering was tremendous. A sense of pride in their collective achievements translated to renewed confidence and inspiration. It is an excellent reference to use during discussions with current and future clients.
Why are programs like the tt100 beneficial to enterprises?
It provides a valuable benchmarking opportunity as well as much needed publicity for innovation taking place within RSA. It is inspiring for the workforce of tomorrow to be exposed to, and see a future in enterprises that are successful and have a culture of innovation at their core.
What advice would you give to future leaders starting out in your industry?
The space industry is extremely exciting and glamorous to be involved in; however, it is fraught with challenges. The obvious challenges are the science and engineering to operate and survive in one of the harshest environments possible. Couple that with strong geopolitical forces and limited access to capital for innovation; it makes it rather tough to survive at the tip of Africa. Taking all of this into account, the ingenuity of the local engineers and scientists, combined with the strategic investment into space stretching back to the early 80’s, provides a launchpad to achieve remarkable things. My advice is, therefore, to find a niche in the international space value chain, focus on delivering a product or service that solves the needs of a global customer base, and in the process inspire as many young minds as possible.
Staff Writer
