SSTL has recently started work as the prime contractor on a highly exciting 3-month Phase 0 study "CosmoCube", funded by Cambridge University who are a grant holder from UKSA’s space science and exploration bilaterial programme. The CosmoCube mission in a Low Lunar Orbit (LLO) takes advantage of the environment of the far side of the Moon — a site devoid of Earth’s radio noise and terrestrial interference— to capture the 21-cm Hydrogen line across a critical range of redshifts from 13 to 285, thereby providing a continuous observational sweep of the Universe’s early baryonic content from the Dark Ages through to the Cosmic Dawn (∼ 10 to 330 million years after the Big Bang) – see figure in main pic.
The CosmoCube Phase 0 study will explore different, non-cubesat, SSTL platform configurations as hosts for the CosmoCube RF payload, resulting in more accurate costs, development timescales (excluding the payload), to help build a more convincing case for the UKSA Science Bilaterials, other related UKSA programmes, or as a ESA Mini-F class mission.
SSTL are working with a highly experienced CosmoCube consortium including the customer (Cambridge University), as well as Portsmouth University and RAL-Space.
