News: Government: £7 million funding to upgrade Observatory radar

As part of £7.8 billion funding for space, the government has set aside £7 million to upgrade the CASTR radar at Chilbolton Observatory.

National security

Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Defence, announced the investment saying “This space strategy recognises that our national security depends on our freedom of action in space and, if necessary, the ability to protect UK and allied space assets.

“As threats in orbit grow more sophisticated, so must our ability to detect and respond to them, ensuring we protect the interests of the UK and allies while fuelling economic growth along the way.”

Within the £7.8 billion, £880 million has been allocated to boost UK space intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance capability, for tracking hostile activity and preventing attacks on satellites.

Radar upgrades

At Chilbolton, the new Space Strategy says that funding of £7 million will be provided over the period of 2026/27 to 2029/30 to “deliver upgrades to the Chilbolton Advanced Satellite Tracking Radar to improve sensitivity and performance, strengthening data quality for government and industry users.”

This will contribute to the Government’s objectives in Space Domain Awareness of which they say

We will build stronger, nationally separable SDA capabilities, anchored by the National Space Operations Centre, to meet civil and military needs, support our allies and protect UK interests in space and on Earth in compliance with international law.

Contracts issued

chilbolton.news has already reported on two contract tenders to develop and install an additional X-band radar at the Observatory.

A further contract has since emerged, worth £750,000, to develop a high-power, high-bandwidth X-band power amplifier. The contract, awarded to Quarterwave Corp. in California, describes the requirements

The Chilbolton Observatory operate a 25m diameter antenna as part of an S-band satellite tracking radar. The observatory wishes to upgrade the radar by adding an X-band capability for satellite imaging. The imaging of satellites requires a very wide bandwidth signals to be transmitted in order to obtain sufficient resolution in the images that the system will generate. The X-Band feed will be located in a cassegrain feed tower in the centre of the dish along with all of the front end components for the radar which includes the power amplifier. The location of the power amplifier within the feed tower places requirements on the maximum physical size that can be accommodated. The mass of the power amplifier is a concern for the design of the feed tower as we need to limit the flexing in the structure under gravity as the antenna tips from zenith to the horizon. As the power amplifier is to be located in a remote and difficult to access location remote operation and status monitoring of the power amplifier is required.

This will bring the total value of contracts already issued to £1,351,034 excluding VAT.