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A sustainable path for space science

Nature Astronomy volume 4, pages 1017–1018 (2020)Cite this article

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High-performance scientific satellites are currently the exclusive domain of government-funded agencies. The team behind the Twinkle Space Mission is developing a new class of small and sustainable science satellites that leverages recent innovations in the commercial space sector.

Scientific missions delivered by space agencies have had a transformational impact on science and society. Missions such as Voyager have revealed valuable information about our Solar System and beyond, while Earth observation satellites such as Envisat have provided long-term temperature trends confirming global warming. These pioneering missions have led to innumerable discoveries and set a high technical standard for space instrumentation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Blue Skies Space Ltd http://www.twinkle-spacemission.co.uk

    Richard Archer, Marcell Tessenyi, Giovanna Tinetti, Jonathan Tennyson, Martin Charles Faulkes, Giorgio Savini, Philip Windred, Dan Brown, Billy Edwards, Ian Stotesbury, Max Joshua & Ben Wilcock

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  1. Richard Archer
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  2. Marcell Tessenyi
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  3. Giovanna Tinetti
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  4. Jonathan Tennyson
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  5. Martin Charles Faulkes
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  6. Giorgio Savini
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  7. Philip Windred
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  8. Dan Brown
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  9. Billy Edwards
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  10. Ian Stotesbury
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  11. Max Joshua
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  12. Ben Wilcock
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Richard Archer or Marcell Tessenyi.

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Competing interests

All authors work for Blue Skies Space Ltd, the company delivering and operating the Twinkle space mission.

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Archer, R., Tessenyi, M., Tinetti, G. et al. A sustainable path for space science. Nat Astron 4, 1017–1018 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1187-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-020-1187-z

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