§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many satellites are(a) owned and (b) leased either in whole or part by her Department, giving (i) the purpose of their use, (ii) their initial cost and annual running costs and (iii) from whom they were purchased or leased in each case. [117337]
§ Alun MichaelThis Department does not own or lease any satellites, but Defra does have a significant interest in a payload instrument (AATSR—Advanced—Along Track Scanning Radiometer) on board the European Space Agency's satellite ENVISAT, which was launched in March 2002. Defra represented the UK as the lead agency in the AATSR project, with some components of the instrument being supplied by the Australian Govern went, and an in-kind contribution from the Natural Environment Research Council.
(i) The Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) instrument is the third in the ATSR series. It is designed to measure sea surface temperature to a high level of accuracy, in order to enable the detection of trends in climate.
(ii) The capital cost of the design and build of the instrument was £11 million. In 2002–03 operational costs incurred amounted to £400,000; now that the 509W instrument is successfully commissioned, future annual running costs are expected to be approximately half this amount.
(iii) The instrument was manufactured by Astrium (formerly Matra Marconi/British Aerospace) and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). Project management and technical management advice was provided by Leicester University and Vega Space Systems up to the launch date. There will be continued advice (but to a lesser degree) as part of the operational in-flight support. In-flight operation and maintenance is provided by RAL with data validation undertaken by Leicester University.