TopSat image of the week - Central London

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 Central London.

The image is bordered by Waterloo Station to the east, Wimbledon Park with its T-shaped lake to the south west and the new Wembley stadium development to the north.

Other notable features include Regents Park and the sky blue roof of the British Museum just to the south of it and the crescent-shaped Serpentine in the centre of Hyde Park. The sun is reflected off Fulham FC's ground, Craven Cottage on the banks of the Thames and Chelsea FC's ground, Stamford Bridge almost due east is also visible.

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.