Great Britain presented the concept of the new UK-ODESSI satellite project (UK-Orbital pathfinDEr for Space-borne, Space-weather Instrumentation), which should strengthen the country's position in space weather forecasting. This was announced at the National Astronomical Conference (NAM 2025) in Durham.
UK-ODESSI envisages the launch of a small-sized satellite with British-developed scientific instruments into low Earth orbit. It will be on board:
SCOPE is a coronagraph from RAL Space, capable of tracking coronal mass ejections (CME) and predict their arrival on Earth;
HEPI is a detector of high-energy particles (>300 MeV), created by the University of Surrey to measure dangerous solar radiation, which can even affect aviation and ground systems.
The SCOPE coronagraph will be the first such instrument in Europe, designed for operational use. It will fill the current gaps in space weather monitoring, which Europe currently relies on from the US.
The satellite will be placed in a sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 500–600 km. This will allow for almost continuous monitoring with short interruptions in lighting.
The project is still at the conceptual level, however, if funding is secured, the launch may take place within five years. The mission will also serve as a platform to test other British space technologies and could be the impetus for further launches beyond Earth orbit.
Source: https://phys.org/news/2025-07-uk-bolster-space-weather-europe.html