Startup founder, government tech advisor and Spark Festival director Maria MacNamara will be the next CEO of the Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA). Sydney-based MacNamara will step into the role on April 22 having recently completed a term as the Director of Government Affairs and Innovation Strategy at global ICT infrastructure company Kyndryl. She was… Read more »
Gold Coast rocket startup Gilmour Space has been granted approval to launch from its north Queensland facility. Federal regulators gave the company the green light under new laws introduced in 2018 to help develop Australia’s fledging space technology sector. Gilmour has developed its own hybrid rockets with a more environmentally friendly propellant and plans to… Read more »
More than $9 million has been awarded to Australian startups focused on space supply chain solutions for NASA’s Artemis program for lunar exploration. The recipients include Victorian startup NextAero, which is developing cryogenic rocket propellants, and South Australia’s Neumann Space, which is focused on electric spacecraft propulsion. The both received $1 million grants from the… Read more »
Gold Coast-based Gilmour Space Technologies has raised $55 million in a Series D ahead of a maiden launch in Queensland later this year. The raise was led by the state government-backed Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), an existing investor, alongside VCs Blackbird and Main Sequence, plus superannuation funds HostPlus and HESTA. The cash will fund the… Read more »
The University of South Australia’s Innovation & Collaboration Centre (ICC) and Australian Centre for Business Growth (AuCBG) are collaborating to offer space startups a fully funded scaleup program that includes $10,000 in equity-free funding The six-month Growth Ramp scaleup program is being backed by the South Australian government and will support later-stage startups that have… Read more »
If someone were to ask you how space technologies impact your daily life, or how much Australia should invest in space, would you have an immediate answer or would you wonder why these questions were even being asked? Understanding what the average Australian thinks about space is essential – voters and taxpayers will only encourage… Read more »
This week, the Australian Space Summit is celebrating some of our nation’s strengths and achievements in the space sector. But it’s taking place under the shadow of significant cuts to space technology investment announced in last week’s federal budget. Space technologies play a critical role in responding to many national priorities, such as climate and… Read more »
Sir Richard Branson’s space tech startup Virgin Orbit, which launches rockets mid-air from under a 747, is shutting down after it failed to find more funding. CNBC reports that Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart told staff most operations will cease “for the foreseeable future” with 675 people losing their jobs and a skeleton staff of… Read more »
A team of University of Queensland (UQ) engineers who designed a sustainable and affordable 3D-printed rocket engine has won two awards for their invention Herik Labs won the Entrepreneur of the Year and People’s Choice awards at the UQ’s Ventures ilab Accelerator Pitch Night for their oxygen and hydrogen-powered engine. Made in a fraction of… Read more »
Indigenous Australian university STEM students have a chance to reach for the stars with a new internship program backed by the Australian Space Agency (ASA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The National Indigenous Space Academy (NISA) was announced during the Australian visit of NASA Administrator US Senator Bill Nelson this week. NISA… Read more »
Two Australian space startups will receive $4 million grants each from the federal government as part of its Moon to Mars Trailblazer initiative to design semi-autonomous rovers to land on the Moon. Perth-based Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) consortium and the EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania consortium will each receive $4 million towards… Read more »
Australian space systems engineer Katherine Bennell-Pegg is hoping to become the first Australian-born woman in space, heading to Germany next month for astronaut training with the European Space Agency (ESA). In November last year NSW-raised Dr Meganne Christian was selected as part of the ESA’s astronaut class as one of 11 reservists. She was born… Read more »
Queensland rocket company Gilmour Space has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with US-based Atomos Space to provide in-space transportation and launch aggregation services. The deal comes as Gilmour prepares for the launch of its first home-grown rocket from it Bowen Orbital Spaceport in northern Queensland Atomos offers in-space transportation services, while Gold Coast-based Gilmour, which… Read more »
Australia is celebrating the rise of women in space with NSW-raised Dr Meganne Christian selected as part of the European Space Agency’s 2022 astronaut class. She is one of 11 reservist astronauts, alongside five career astronauts and one parastronaut chosen from more than 22,500 applicants. If she goes to space, it will be as a… Read more »
This weekend marked a milestone for Western Australia’s Binar Space Program as its first satellite Binar-1 lived up to its name. Binar is the word for “fireball” in the Noongar language spoken by the Aboriginal people of Perth. Binar-1 became a real “Binar” as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the weekend. Although the chance of… Read more »
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