UK Space Agency’s £5m to put SuperSharp Space Systems’ Hibiscus in orbit
SuperSharp Space Systems has received a £5million award from the UK Space Agency which will be used to enable an in-orbit demonstration of its space telescope.
The announcement coincides with the delivery of the first prototype of its ultra-high resolution space telescope, Hibiscus, which is scheduled to begin space operations in Q4 2026. Hibiscus has the ability to resolve individual buildings and the wide field of view to capture entire cities in a single satellite pass.
The telescope can be used to unlock the potential of space-derived imagery in observation and applications including climate change monitoring and crop monitoring, greenhouse gas detection, defence and intelligence, land monitoring, and urban heat maps.
The University of Cambridge spinout was founded in 2017 and to focus on developing unfolding space telescopes for high-resolution thermal infrared (TIR) imaging of the Earth. The company’s unique technology allows it to fit a large telescope in a small satellite, making low-cost, high-resolution, and frequent earth-imaging possible. This makes powerful TIR space telescopes much more affordable while achieving fourfold greater resolution per unit cost than the current solutions.
In 2023 SATLANTIS, a world leader of miniaturised Earth observation and universe exploration missions based in the Basque region of northern Spain, acquired a controlling interest in the company. This deal created a global leader in high-resolution electro-optical payloads for small satellites, with a presence in Spain, France, the US through SATLANTIS LLC, and the UK.
The £5m award comes from the UK Space Agency’s National Space Innovation Programme, designed to invest in high-potential technologies, drive innovation and unlock growth across the UK. SuperSharp joins seven leading innovators from the UK’s space industry, receiving £24million in total.
Speaking in July 2024 when the funding was first announced, Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, said: “These new projects will help kickstart growth, create more high-quality jobs, protect our planet and preserve the space environment for future generations. They go to the heart of what we want to achieve as a national space agency that supports cutting-edge innovation, spreads opportunity across the UK and delivers the benefits of space back to citizens on earth.”
The problem Hibiscus solves is that existing space imaging technology cannot provide detailed thermal images at the frequency that’s required. Some large, expensive satellites in low-earth orbit can capture high-resolution images infrequently, while small, low-cost satellites capture frequent but low-resolution images.
SuperSharp’s approach involves smaller payloads that unfold in space to become large telescopes. As a result, SuperSharp can match the current cutting-edge imaging resolution, while at the same time maximising the field of view: scanning an area that can cover entire urban conurbations or large-scale agriculture. The result is much greater resolution per unit cost, enabling these new climate change mitigation applications.
Last month, SuperSharp announced it had selected Kongsberg NanoAvionics’ MP42 microsatellite platform as its launch platform, in anticipation of launching in late 2026, on board SpaceX’s Transporter rideshare service.
Marco Gomez-Jenkins, CEO of SuperSharp, said: “These are two critical milestones in SuperSharp’s history, and in the coming age of space observation for climate change mitigation.
“We’re proud of the vote of confidence that the UK Space Agency funding represents, and the delivery of the first prototype of our Hibiscus telescope. Our objective has always been to rewrite the economics of space imaging, through innovative technology and a user-centered approach, and we’re on our way.”
A visualisation of Hibiscus unfolding is also available on LinkedIn here.
