SSTL to Develop Spacecraft Platform for Lazuli, a Privately Funded Space Telescope

Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has been selected as a key industrial collaborator in the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System’s Lazuli initiative, a project aiming to deliver one of the most ambitious privately funded space telescopes ever conceived. SSTL announced its role on March 9, 2026.

Lazuli: A Novel Era in Space Astronomy

The Lazuli Space Observatory is intended to develop into the first full-scale privately funded space telescope, with a primary mirror planned to be larger than that of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. SpaceWatch reports that the observatory will carry a suite of advanced instruments, including a wide-field camera, an integral-field spectrograph and a coronagraph. These instruments will be used for rapid and responsive studies of exoplanets, supernovae, and transient cosmic events. SSTL will develop the spacecraft platform for the mission, carrying the Lazuli space observatory far beyond Earth orbit into deep space.

SSTL’s Approach to Spacecraft Development

SSTL brings a unique approach to spacecraft design and delivery, exemplified by its Carbonite program. This program demonstrated the ability to achieve advanced space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities by adapting proven ground-based technologies and combining them with agile spacecraft engineering. Exterrajsc highlights that this approach delivers performance traditionally associated with larger, more expensive systems, but at a fraction of the cost and timescale.

According to Andrew Cawthorne, Managing Director of SSTL, “SSTL has a way of doing space differently. Our heritage shows that you don’t need to rely on vast, exquisite systems to deliver extraordinary capability.” SpaceNews also reports Cawthorne stating that while SSTL is known for “small satellites,” the term refers to their approach, not the physical size of the spacecraft.

The Schmidt Observatory System

Lazuli is part of the wider Schmidt Observatory System, which aims to combine development, open data access, and collaboration to lower barriers to participation in “frontier astronomy.” SpaceWatch details that the initiative was unveiled by Schmidt Sciences – cofounded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt – at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Key Capabilities of the SSTL Platform

SSTL’s deep-space platform will provide the precision pointing, propulsion capability, and communications necessary to operate the observatory in a stable deep-space orbit. SSTL’s platform will enable the mission’s demanding scientific objectives by supporting studies of exoplanets, supernovae and transient cosmic events.