GANDER Concept

GANDER's principal aim is to develop and launch a constellation of small satellites that will orbit the Earth in rapid succession. They will measure the surface winds and wave heights of the sea in order to provide ships with constant updates on the sea conditions ahead of them.

The strength of GANDER lies in a combination of skills from two British companies that have each demonstrated world leadership in the two areas essential to the GANDER project. Satellite Observing Systems Ltd (SOS) is a pioneer in the interpretation of marine satellite data, while Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) specialises in the development and launch of micro and mini satellites.

By restricting the payload of the satellites to a single dedicated sensor, a radar altimeter, plus a GPS receiver, the overall cost can be reduced to make it economic to launch a constellation of 16 satellites. This is the number required to provide the breakthrough - constant, virtually real-time monitoring of the sea state of all the world's oceans.

GANDER will provide an unparalleled level of highly accurate information on actual sea conditions. Its dense network of sea state observations will also form the basis for improved forecasting of developing storms.

In over 20 years of monitoring the ocean surface from low Earth orbiting satellites, this will be the first system able to match the rate at which storm centres develop at sea by deploying enough satellites to meet the necessary sampling rate.

Because of the nature of radar, the satellites will be able to obtain data irrespective of cloud cover and whether it is day or night.