A Cambridge University spin-out is developing a unfolding, heat-detecting telescope that could capture high resolution thermal images of Earth — at an affordable price.

SuperSharp credits these capabilities to its unfolding “self-alignment technology” which allows it to fit big telescopes in small satellites.   

Currently, some large, expensive satellites in low-earth orbit can capture high-resolution images infrequently, while small, low-cost satellites capture frequent but low-resolution images. The startup, SuperSharp, wants to occupy the space in the middle. 

Unfolding telescopes are nothing new — just look at James Webb for inspiration — but they’re generally very expensive and notoriously tricky to pull off. But SuperSharp believes it can deliver unfolding satellites at a price-point competitive with current Earth Observation satellites.