The latest Centauri-6 satellite developed by Adelaide mining tech startup Fleet Space Technologies is now in orbit after heading skywards aboard SpaceX’s Bandwagon-1 “ridesharing” mission. The Falcon 9 reusable rocket’s payload of 11 satellites took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida last week. The Centauri-6 microsatellite brings Fleet Space’s constellation of low earth… 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 »
Having broken new ground in health tech for high-risk situations, Canaria Technologies is taking its next giant leap – to infinity and beyond. The Brisbane-based startup is gearing up to take its pioneering tech in predictive biometrics to the next frontier: outer space. Canaria’s wearables, which combine data about how the human body functions with… 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 »
Aotearoa New Zealand is the latest country to enter the expanding and competitive international space market. In the aerospace strategy and national space policy, the government lays out how it intends to grow the domestic space sector by launching rockets and satellites and promoting Earth observation research. The documents indicate the government’s general priorities in… Read more »
Adelaide satellite tech startup Fleet Space Technologies has bagged its first contract in the lucrative defence sector, signing a $6.4 million contract with Australia’s Defence Space Command. The agreement will see Fleet’s next-generation of Centauri satellites used to develop and demonstrate a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications system focused on tactical communications and data… 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 »
Quasar Satellite Technologies, a space communications startup building ground station services to replace parabolic dishes has raised $6 million in pre-Series A. The round by CSIRO’s VC fund, Main Sequence Ventures, and included PAN Group, and Marc and Lindy De Stoop of Climatech Group. The company has also scored a $5.3 million Defence Innovation Hub… 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 »
The ozone layer is on track to heal within four decades, according to a recent UN report, but this progress could be undone by an upsurge in rocket launches expected during the same period. The ozone layer protects life on Earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays. Destruction of the ozone layer became a… Read more »
After a severe electrical storm damaged an ATSpace rocket on the launch pad in November, the company has announced that repairs have been completed and they will attempt another launch in the coming weeks, followed by another already planned launch of a second rocket. ATSpace CEO Dr Yen Sen Chen said they were pleased to… Read more »
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