TK designed and built - for AIRBUS in Germany - the feed optics and multiplexer as well as the transmitted power monitoring of JAXA's 94 GHz Doppler radar now flying on the EarthCARE (Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer) mission - well over a decade ago. The hardware is now, at last, in polar orbit. And NiCT/JAXA have now released "First-Light" images of the Dopplar radar in action The sample cloud was observed over the Pacific Ocean, just east of Japan, on 13 June 2024. The BBC's Jonathan Amos published a useful article on the need for these measurements and JAXA's Youtube video can be seen here, TK design and made, along with the mutiplexer, the secondary mirror seen abo...
NASA has kindly provided a nice visual display of TROPICS constellation moving over the earth - TK made the TROPICS antennas. Worth a look at this fun NASA site with TROPICS 5 featured here:
Based on a contract initially signed on the 9th September 2015, TK has shipped out to AIRBUS in Portsmouth thelast piece of MetOP-SG hardware - a spare MicroWaves Sounder On-Board Calibration Target. Thanks to all of our colleagues - both current and past - in both TK, Atkins, Cardiff University and our customersin AIRBUS UK and Spain - as well as in ESA - for coping with the ups and sometimes downs of such a challenging and rewarding set of projects. the OBCT being packed up in TK's TVAC clean room after final PRT calibration.
Another two TROPICS radiometers were launched on the 26th May - details are here - and the Youtube video here and are - to quote - the PI, Bill Blackwell ....."all four are working great!" At 2 am BST, Monday 8th May 2023, the New Zealand launch of two TROPICS radiometers puts TK designed, made and tested antennas into orbit to observe hurricanes. Rocket Labs' Electron engine powers the initial part of the launch: Credit:Rocket Labs Click here to watch the launch on YouTube - and a splendid Drone video here ....the 100mm cube tri-band antennas use a polarizing grid to combine co-aligned beams covering atmospheric rotation lines of water and oxygen: ...
A day late and a nervous wait for the spacecraft to start talking back to Earth, ESA's JUICE mission is finally on its way to the Galilean moons - including, SWI, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research's Submm-Wave Radiometer TK had the privilege to build, for colleagues in the Institute of Applied Physics in Bern, the radiometric calibrationtarget (A), the free-standing mm-wave polarizer (B) and the 530-625 GHz corrugated antenna feed (C) for IAP's Quasi-Optical sub-system The SWI can pick up the rotation based-emission of some simple molecules, enumerated below, might be venting from these moons - the latter are still undergoing tidal heating. Measurements m...
Andrew Moseley, a second year apprentice at Thomas Keating Ltd, has received the Engineering Star Apprentice 2022 award from Crawley College. The award was given due to Andrew's hard work and quality of task parts that he produced in both milling and turning as part of his Mechanical Engineering level 2 course work. '' Andrew has already become an important member of the TK team.'' says Simon Duke , Toolroom Manager. ''He has shown a high degree of engineering understanding which can be seen in the high quality work that he produces.'' In his introduction, Instructor Mike Coles mentions his "Persistence" and his "Rising to a challenge" The Video can be seen here of Andrew Mo...