A satellite developed by the UK business Horizon Technologies has successfully completed its Critical Design Review (CDR), and is on schedule for launch in mid-2025, the UK Space Agency announced today.

The Amber-2 Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) Satellite will play a key role in detecting ‘dark vessels’ at sea, such as those involved in illegal immigration, illegal fishing activities, drug smuggling, ship-to-ship transfers of goods and evading sanctions.
The development of the satellite is supported by a £1.2 million investment from the UK Space Agency. The wider Amber™ Programme has been designed to meet the MDA requirements of the Royal Navy via the Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC) in Portsmouth.