Two space startups score $100,000 each from a new South Australian government fund

Two South Australian startups, one building a system to help locate and rescue astronauts stranded in remote areas on the Moon, the other, a lightweight spacecraft with AI capabilities, will be backed by state government with $100,000 each. 

Safety from Space scored the cash from the inaugural South Australian Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund for its Lunar Search and Rescue (LunaSAR) project. The funds will help themtrial advanced satellite communications (SATCOM) capabilities for future astronaut search and rescue operations on the surface of the Moon.  

The Australian-first field trial of lunar distress beacons is a collaboration with NASA, and the US and Australian arms of The Mars Society, along with a collective of Australian partners including SmartSat CRC, UniSA and Flinders University

The ‘LunaSAR’ system aims to provide a lighter weight, longer battery life radio beacon with greater reliability than current devices.

Safety from Space founder Mark Rice said a successful trial could pave the way for a unique Australian contribution into NASA’s Artemis Program, and emergency communication applications closer to home, operating without reliance on local network infrastructure. 

“Ensuring the safe return of astronauts in the event of an emergency is critical to  interplanetary exploration, and we are passionate to see our breakthrough communications technology playing a pivotal role,” he said.

“Our collaboration with NASA has put Australia at the forefront of two-way communications for search and rescue, and we are extremely grateful for the funding  from the South Australian Government to make it possible.”

The other startup, AICRAFT, has developed a partnership with India’s Guerin Technologies, dubbed ‘Leoflect’, to create a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) – a type of radar used to create detailed images of the Earth’s surface, that’s lighter and smaller than competitors and years ahead of existing tech in terms of using advanced AI models to deliver power-efficient, high-speed data processing  and analysis on orbit. 

AICRAFT CEO Tony Scoleri said the government’s support will help bring down the cost of, and access to, critically important SAR data.  

“We have developed strong relationships with the Indian space ecosystem and are thrilled to partner with Guerin Technologies on our ‘Leoflect’ project to harness the  innovation in both our companies and deliver the most compact SAR antenna and most compact, low-power onboard computer on the market,” he said.

SAR data is critically important and can be used in applications such as agriculture,  forestry, glacier monitoring, maritime surveillance and Defence intelligence.  

The South Australian Space Collaboration and Innovation  Fund is designed to accelerate the development of local space innovations and  collaboration with international partners. 

SA treasurer and defence and space industries minister Stephen Mullighan said details on the next round of funding will be announced in coming months. 

“AICRAFT’s collaboration with Guerin Technologies and Safety from Space’s collaboration with NASA are prime examples of how our state is leading in space innovation and will have a significant impact on global space technology,” he said.

More details at sasic.sa.gov.au/space-fund