The skies above Earth are going to become as busy as peak hour traffic in the next few years as companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, as well as Amazon, filling the heavens with tens of thousands of satellites. And all that traffic is going to create issues with avoiding collisions, which is where Australian… Read more »
Queensland tech startup Fireball International’s bushfire detection satellite will head into orbit in 2022 thanks to an all-Australian deal that includes in-space transportation provider, Space Machines Company, and rocket company Gilmour Space Technologies. Space Machines Co.’s ‘space taxi’, Optimus-1, carries passenger satellites to orbit around Earth, or potentially to higher bodies like the Moon or Mars.… Read more »
Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink, will roll out in Sydney later this year.Startup Daily received an email from Starlink on Friday offering us the chance to sign up for the beta phase of the broadband roll out “on a first-come, first-served basis” in 2021. “Starlink is now available for order to a limited number… Read more »
The University of Adelaide is sending pills to the International Space Station (ISS) to determine if it will be possible to produce medicine in space to enable longer-term space missions. Scheduled to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Sunday 21 February, the pills will contain Ibuprofen and vitamin C as active ingredients,… Read more »
This month has been a busy one for Mars exploration. Several countries sent missions to the red planet in June last year, taking advantage of a launch window. Most have now arrived after their eight-month voyage. Within the next few days, NASA will perform a direct entry of the Martian atmosphere to land the Perseverance… Read more »
Fleet Space Technologies will launch its fifth nanosatellite, Centauri, 3 next month as part of Rocket Lab’s latest mission, taking off from New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula. Fellow South Australian satellite venture Myriota will also launch its first satellite in the same Rocklet Lab payload. Centauri 3 is part of a planned 140-strong constellation offering satellite… Read more »
Enrico Palermo starts his first day as head of the Australian Space Agency today. He takes over from Dr Megan Clark, who is now chair of the Australian Space Agency Advisory Board. Australian-born Palermo, 40, is President of The Spaceship Company, which develops and builds the Virgin Galactic spaceplane fleet. Last year he became Chief… Read more »
South Australia begins program to launch a low-orbit small satellite as next phase in burgeoning space economy. Led by the SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), the AUD$6.5 million SASAT1 Space Services Mission was announced on Wednesday in Adelaide, South Australia. Based at Lot Fourteen, which is also home to the Australian Space Agency, the SmartSat… Read more »
The SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has established an organisation to represent space startup companies in Australia. Called the Aurora Space Startup Cluster, the new company is based at the Lot Fourteen innovation neighbourhood in Adelaide, South Australia that is also home to the Australian Space Agency. SmartSat CEO Prof Andy Koronios said Aurora already… Read more »
Australian satellite company Fleet Space Technologies is planning a mission to the moon as part of a consortium named Seven Sisters. The mission will launch in 2023 to search the Moon using nanosatellites and other exploration sensors for abundant and accessible water. Fleet, OZ Minerals, University of Adelaide, UNSW, Unearthed, Tyvak Australia and Fugro have… Read more »
Tech incubator Moonshot has raised its first investment fund for space startups and opened applications for its next investment accelerator in early 2021. Moonshot is a specialist incubator space startups launched in 2017 for deep tech ventures working in areas such as satellites, launch facilities, robotics, semiconductors, energy generation, or aggregation platforms for environmental data.… Read more »
Lux Aerobot is set to permanently settle in Adelaide as its gains new projects in the defence and mining sectors. Lux co-founder and president Katrina Albert said while the company will maintain an office in Canada, Australia will be the testbed of overall company strategy. “It’s the first place where we’re actually deploying the technology… Read more »
The South Australian Department for Trade and Investment is hosting a series of four live Q&A webinars focusing on the space industry, its future and possibilities. Starting on Thursday, 3 December with a discussion around Australia’s space edge, with the Australian Space Agency’s Deputy Head Anthony Murfett, the panel of local experts will talk about… Read more »
Gilmour Space Technologies, the Gold Coast-based startup building lower-cost hybrid rockets for launching small satellites into low earth orbits from 2022, has signed its first international deal for launch and orbital logistics with US rocket venture Momentus. The multi-million-dollar partnership will see the two companies share launch services, with Momentus buying at least one of… Read more »
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