The proposal was presented Wednesday at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting 2025 in Durham.
UK-ODESSI (UK-Orbital pathfinDEr for Space-borne, Space-weather Instrumentation) would act as a pathfinder for a new generation of UK-developed space weather instruments.
It would carry a baseline payload including a solar coronagraph (SCOPE), developed at the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) RAL Space, and a high-energy particle instrument (HEPI), developed at the University of Surrey. Both are designed to fill current UK and European capability gaps in key areas of space weather monitoring.
SCOPE is the only solar coronagraph currently under development in Europe for space weather operations. Coronagraphs allow scientists to track coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the Sun and forecast their arrival at Earth, with lead times of no less than 15 hours.
Accurate CME arrival forecasts are a central component of space weather mitigation strategies. Currently, Europe relies on US-operated assets for this crucial observational capability. Amid growing uncertainty around the future of US scientific infrastructure, the development of sovereign UK and European coronagraph capability is increasingly important.
Dr Jackie Davies, science lead for UK-ODESSI at STFC RAL Space and SCOPE instrument lead, said: "Testing a coronagraph, with its challenging stray-light requirements, is difficult on the ground.
"A low-cost LEO platform is an ideal test-bed for performance verification, while also providing a level of resilience for current assets. With a validated coronagraph design, we would develop UK sovereign and European capability that could potentially be deployed on spacecraft in multiple locations."
HEPI is designed to measure highly energetic solar particles, specifically those with energies above 300 MeV.
Professor Keith Ryden, director of Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey and HEPI instrument lead, added: "These particles are hazardous because they are highly penetrating and can affect systems even on Earth's surface or on aircraft.
"In situ observations of such particles are extremely limited, with data currently available from only a few locations in geostationary orbit. A validated instrument like HEPI, deployed on multiple spacecraft, would significantly improve current models used for forecasting particle radiation events."
UK-ODESSI would use a small satellite platform developed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), placed in a sun-synchronous terminator orbit around 500-600 km above Earth. The orbit would allow near-continuous collection of operational data, with only short eclipse periods at one solstice.
The mission would also serve as a testbed for other satellite technologies developed in the UK, and could help pave the way for future deployments beyond low-Earth orbit.
At present, the development of the SCOPE and HEPI instruments is well underway, while the UK-ODESSI mission and spacecraft concept are still at a conceptual level. A design study is therefore being sought to move the mission forward, with a potential launch target within five years if funding is secured.
The project would aim to align with a cost and timeframe comparable to an ESA mini-F-class mission.
"Space weather is an acknowledged UK national risk," Dr Davies said. "The development and deployment of instruments for forecasting, nowcasting and model validation is a critical element in the successful mitigation of this critical national risk."
Research Report:UK-ODESSI: A Low-Cost, Low-Earth Orbit, In-Orbit Pathfinder for UK Space Weather Instrumentation
Related Links
Royal Astronomical Society
Solar Science News at SpaceDaily
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