TopSat carries out imaging with a ground resolution of 2.5 m. Much smaller and cheaper than other imaging satellites of similar high resolution, TopSat has been used to demonstrate the feasibility of providing images on demand to portable ground stations, such as that which might be deployed by the military or another disaster relief organisation. TopSat was built in the United Kingdom by
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd,
QinetiQ and The
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory under the
British National Space Centre Mosaic programme. The engineering model of TopSat now lives in the space gallery of London's
Science Museum. TopSat won the 2006
Popular Science "Best of What's New" Grand Award in the Aviation and Space category. == References ==