Post authored by Christian Trampuz, TNO The Hague.
The seeds planted in the Dutch space ecosystem by NSO and NWO with the SwarmSAR phase 0 mission concept definition start giving the first shoots. Watered by the Dutch Ministry of Defence and thanks to the fertility of the Dutch technology infrastructure, a new development season has started in Q4-2024.
A feasibility study is now ongoing to determine by the end of 2025 whether the mission is feasible and can deliver the desired products driven by the defined use cases, with controlled risk and sufficient confidence within reasonable budget constraints.
The consortium is led by TNO, with its radar and aerospace warfare departments operating within the Defence Safety and Security Unit. TNO is responsible for the payload design, Moving Target and Change Detection processing algorithms, and overall system design. Besides TNO, the consortium features the participation of the TU Delft, with the CiTG department originator of the mission concept and now defining SAR algorithms and processing products, and of ISISPACE, a Dutch SME building compact satellite missions that will be responsible for the satellite bus design and mission aspects study. All parties were involved in the original NL-RIA mission concept study and will have now the chance to demonstrate that the original mission concept is feasible and worth the investment for being put in space.
Although the mission is now financed by the Ministry of Defence, it will maintain its dual-use character, fostering the development of new applications and products by the Dutch industry, in tight collaboration with NSO and NWO.