TopSat image of the week - Arnhem Land

Reproduced images should include the credit: "TopSat imagery courtesy of QinetiQ."

TopSat, the micro-satellite designed and built by a QinetiQ-led consortium of British firms, captured this image of Arnhem Land, Australia.

Arnhem Land is Aboriginal land situated in the north east corner of Australia's Northern Territory. The region was named after the Dutch Ship Arnhem which explored the coast in 1623. It is primarily a wetlands environment influenced by North Australia's erratic climate and harsh seasonal droughts.

This image shows the Roper River which marks the southern edge of Arnhem Land. It is a deep, wide, tidal river full of dangerous crocodiles but despite this it is popular with barramundi fishermen. Port Roper at the mouth has no facilities and is 133 kilometres by gravel road from the nearest settlement. Fishermen and other visitors are advised to bring plenty of insect repellent!

TopSat is a major step forward in the affordability of space missions, providing high resolution images at a much reduced cost compared to larger satellites. TopSat imagery has a nominal 2.8m resolution in black and white and 5.7m in colour.

TopSat was designed and built by a consortium of British companies – QinetiQ, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and Infoterra. The programme has been jointly funded by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) and the UK Ministry of Defence.