Southern Space - 15 July

Southern Space is a weekly newsletter produced by SIAA to inform the Australian space industry

Industry News

Space MAITRI Mission Announced: SIAA Member Space Machines Company has signed a landmark Launch Service Agreement with NewSpace India Limited for a dedicated launch aboard NSIL’s Small Satellite Launch Vehicle in 2026.? Under the agreement, Space Machines Company will launch their second Optimus spacecraft. The Space MAITRI (Mission for Australia-India’s Technology, Research and Innovation) Mission marks a significant milestone in the strategic partnership between Australia and India in the space domain.?

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HEO NOAA Approval: SIAA Member HEO USA has received approval from the U.S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to operate the company’s Holmes non-Earth Imaging (NEI) camera as hosted payloads on US flagged space vehicles. HEO USA’s first two NOAA-licensed Holmes imagers are scheduled to launch in October 2024 and February 2025 on Sidus Space’s LizzieSat 2 and 3, with a third scheduled to launch on Impulse Space’s Mira in November 2024.???????

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iLAuNCH Trailblazer New Projects: SIAA Member iLAuNCH Trailblazer has announced an upcoming project advancing GNC for CubeSats by developing a thrust vectoring system for the Bogong Thruster. The Bogong Thruster is a box containing and emitting naphthalene to create thrust. The project builds on original work from The Australian National University and Boswell Technologies that launched to space in 2023. iLAuNCH is partnering with Indian company, Azista Industries on this project.?

Additionally, through the iLAuNCH Trailblazer , the University of Southern Queensland is partnering with LEAP Australia to bring the ANSYS software suite to Toowoomba, QLD. This will assist researchers in designing high-performance vehicles.????

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Lockheed Martin Contracts: SIAA Foundation Member Lockheed Martin recently secured a USD$977.5 million contract extension for the continued development, testing, and on-orbit support of the U.S Space Force’s Next-Gen OPIR satellites. The OPIR satellites are designed to track ballistic missile launches, providing warning of potential attacks. Lockheed additionally won a contract worth approximately $2.27 billion to build three geostationary weather satellites for the U.S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The company launched the GOES-U? advanced weather satellite on June 25 for the NOAA.??

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Planet Labs: SIAA Member Planet Labs has announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to enhance onboard processing capabilities for Planet’s Pelican-2 satellite. Planet will use NVIDIA’s Jetson edge AI platform for the Pelican-2 satellite, set to launch in an upcoming mission later this year. Additionally, Planet’s first hyperspectral satellite, the Tanager-1 , is set for launch in an upcoming SpaceX rideshare mission.??

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NSW SRN Chair Appointed: SIAA Member the NSW Space Research Network (SRN) has announced the appointment of Veronica Bainton as new Chair of the SRN Board, effective from 1 July 2024. Veronica Bainton will take up the position of Chair as Michael Clarke retires from the role. Veronica is Director Satellite—Governance and Industry Engagement at Optus Satellite and Space Systems, as well as a Deputy Chair on the board of SIAA.?

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Spire Awarded Canadian Government Contract: SIAA Member Spire Global has been awarded a one-year CA $1.41 million contract by the Government of Canada for the provision of global automatic identification system (AIS) ship tracking data. Under the contract, which has options to extend additional years, Spire will share the company's real-time global ship tracking data.?

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LeoLabs AFWERX Contract: SIAA Member LeoLabs has announced plans to develop a next generation radar a USD $1.245 million AFWERX contract. It is intended that the new S-band 2-D Direct Radiating Array will be capable of tracking rocket launches and spacecraft in very low Earth orbit.??

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Rocket Lab Synspective Deal: SIAA Member Rocket Lab has signed a ten-launch agreement with Japanese Earth observation company Synspective. The deal is Rocket Lab’s largest Electron launch agreement to date and continues a long-standing partnership between Rocket Lab and Synspective.?

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Ariane 6 Inaugural Launch: The inaugural launch of the Ariane 6 rocket successfully took place on Tuesday 9 July. The spacecraft lifted off from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana on Tuesday afternoon, following a short delay. The ArianeGroup aims to increase production of the Ariane 6 spacecraft to achieve a launch cadence of approximately nine launches per year.?

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Artemis Accords: Armenia has become the latest nation to sign onto NASA’s Artemis Accords, bringing the total number of signatories to 43.??

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IACC Working Group Announced: The Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA) has announced the establishment of the IAC25 Consultation (IACC) Working Group —a group consisting of space leaders across Australia to provide specialised advice to the IAC local organising committee. ?

Industry Opportunities?

Australian Space Agency - Industry Opportunities?

The Australian Space Agency has released a collated list of open industry opportunities available to the Australian space sector.??

The Australian Government is seeking to build capability in areas of national priority defined by the Critical Technologies Statement, Defence Industry Development Strategy, and the Industry Growth Program (IGP) / National Reconstruction Fund (NRF). Australian Government grant and support programs are available to support capability build in these priority areas. As a technological enabler across the economy, the space sector can help diversify and transform Australian industry and may be eligible for support through several of these programs.??

Opportunities cover grants and support to build capability in priority areas, national capability-build programs and other programs with relevance to space.??

View a?snapshot of industry opportunities ?here and find?more detail information ?on opportunities here.?

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Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Grant – Intake 11??

Intake 11 of the Australian Government’s Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants are open now.??

The Australian Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants provide Australian businesses with grant funds to build capacity to deliver products and services into domestic and/or international space industry supply chains that could support Moon to Mars activities.??

Grants range from $250,000 up to $1 million, to fund up to 75% of eligible project expenditure. Australian businesses with a demonstrated domestic and/or international space supply chain opportunity are eligible to apply.??

Applications for this intake close Tuesday 16 July 2024, 5PM AEST. Apply here ?

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Defence Innovation Partnership - Activator Fund???

The Activator Fund is designed to speed up the translation of innovative defence technology into real work capability for the Australian Defence Force.?The next round of the Activator Fund, with a total of $2.4m available, will focus on two themes; understanding and countering influence, and scalable distributed active sensing and sensemaking systems.??

Proposals will be sought from consortia led by South Australian universities and industry and involving Department of Defence partners and other national and international partners. Successful applicants will be required to provide matching co-contributions. Consortia will have the opportunity to participate in a co-design process for proposal development.??

Applications for the fund will open on 25 June 2024 with a closing date of 5 August 2024.?Find out more about the Activator Fund here. ?

Upcoming Events?

Southern Space 2024: The World Has Changed?

When: 21-22 August?

Where: Hotel Realm, Canberra?

The Space Industry Association of Australia’s Southern Space conference is a gathering of the brightest minds across government, defence and industry. This conference will explore how Australia and the world must adapt to a changing geopolitical, economic and strategic context, focusing on how space can enable a more secure world.?

This year's theme: The World Has Changed. Have Your Priorities??

Our conference programme will offer novel perspectives on current global challenges and opportunities, contextualising space within broader global trends. We look forward to releasing a full programme shortly. SIAA Members are entitled to a limited number of complimentary registrations.?

Register here to secure your place at Southern Space.?

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17th Australian Space Forum?

When: July 24th and 25th??

Where: Adelaide Convention Centre???

The 17th Australian Space Forum will take place on Wednesday 24 July and Thursday 25 July at the Adelaide Convention Centre, in Adelaide, SA. Suitable for industry, academics, government and students, the Forum provides an opportunity to network, collaborate and grow the Australian space sector.?

The event will feature over 70 exhibitors, whilst the speaker program will offer over 85 renowned speakers discussing a range of topics from sector achievements to launch, end-user perspectives to policy and more.??

Register here .?

Job Opportunities

View new job postings on SIAA’s Southern Space Jobs Board to see what job opportunities are available in the space industry.

SIAA members can advertise job positions for free on the Southern Space Jobs board. For more information, please email [email protected]

SIAA Member Profile: Ventia?

Ventia is a leading essential infrastructure services provider for communities across Australia and New Zealand. ??

Headquartered in Sydney, Ventia is an Australian Securities Exchange top 200 company, with a secondary listing on New Zealand’s Exchange.??

The company specialises in the long-term operation, maintenance and management of critical public and private assets and infrastructure, including Defence and Space telecommunications infrastructure networks and assets.??

Ventia also manages the most comprehensive portfolio of telecommunications infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand. With expert in-house Information and Communications Technology capabilities, Ventia has delivered telecommunications related projects and services of national significance for over 25 years. End-to-end service capabilities span design, supply, construction, installation, commissioning and maintenance of the region’s largest fibre optic, mobile and critical telecommunications networks and infrastructure.?

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Header Image Credit:?Dragon Capsule Over Gulf of Aden, Red Sea (NASA, ISS, 20-04-14)