ESA excellence award for Surrey Satellite Technology
UK company Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) has secured a European Space Agency award for excellence as a prime contractor, following the firm’s delivery of two innovative Earth observation satellites last year.
Guildford-based SSTL led the development of the two-satellite HydroGNSS mission, which launched in November 2025 to investigate Earth’s water cycle.
SSTL’s impressive contributions to HydroGNSS were recognised this week during ESA’s Industry Space Days, held at its facility in the Netherlands. This industry focused event is convened every two years to bring together the European space community, showcase future opportunities to work with ESA, and foster collaboration and partnerships.
Backed by the UK Space Agency, HydroGNSS is part of ESA’s scout framework, which enables the rapid and cost-effective development of novel remote sensing technologies. It uses a cutting-edge technique called Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reflectometry to reveal new insights into the water cycle. This approach measures how signals emitted by global navigation systems – such as Galileo and GPS – change after they reflect off Earth’s surface.
SSTL was selected for the award thanks to its outstanding contributions to the deployment of this innovative Earth observation technology, as well as its ability to keep the project on track despite challenges during the development process.
Michael Griffith, Senior Industrial Policy Officer at ESA, said, “This award recognised the company’s commitment to completing the satellites within a particularly demanding schedule. Following a late change in launch service, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited undertook the additional activities required to maintain the mission schedule, addressed issues identified before shipment and mobilised the resources necessary to preserve the planned launch.
“This was highly valued by ESA given that Earth observation Scout missions are designed to deliver cutting-edge science quickly and affordably, to complement ESA’s larger Earth Explorer missions.”
SSTL was one of three European companies recognised for their excellence and innovation at ESA’s Industry Space Days 2026. You can read more about the awards on the Business with ESA pages of esa.int.
