Southern Space - 24 March

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

Industry News

NASA Administrator and Deputy Administrator Visit to Australia: This week the NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pamela Melroy visited Australia, engaging with industry and government representatives across the country. In his address at the National Press Club this week Nelson emphasised that ‘there is such a vast, economic opportunity for businesses in a space-based economy’ and noted that there is ‘room for Australian rockets, and an Australian space contribution’. ?

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Moon to Mars Trailblazer Initiatives Recipients Announced:?In conjunction with the NASA Administrator’s visit the Australian government announced two recipients of the Moon to Mars Trailblazer initiative . SIAA member AROSE and?EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania consortium will each receive $4 million to design early-stage prototypes of a semi-autonomous rover. Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic commented that the development of rovers will be ‘drawing on Australia’s world leading remote operations, the rover will collect lunar soil known as regolith from the Moon and deliver it to a NASA payload, which will attempt to extract oxygen from the sample’. Both companies aim to develop a?rover to launch by 2026. ?

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NASA Internship for First Nations Australians: The National Indigenous Space Academy (NISA) will provide five Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander university students the opportunity to undertake a 10-week summer internship program at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL). The opportunity is open to First Nations students across Australia, with the leader of the internship pilot program Professor Chris Lawrence noting that the program reflects ‘a vision with the Australian Space Agency to foster career development for First Nations people in the space sector’. ?

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Virgin Orbit: Last week Virgin Orbit announced a company-wide ‘operational pause’, citing?cash flow issues. This week the company has shared that it plans to bring a small staff back to work as part of a ‘incremental resumption of its operations’. This announcement?follows the company’s previous LauncherOne mission failure earlier this year, which did not reach orbit due to a dislodged fuel line in the rocket’s upper stage.?

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AquaWatch to Deliver Water-Quality Monitoring for Australia: This week, the CSIRO launched the AquaWatch Australia mission, designed to deliver the first ground-to-space water quality monitoring system. Using a network of Earth-observation satellites and ground-based water sensors, the?mission will provide near real-time updates and predictive forecasting for water quality. AquaWatch Australia is designed to improve resilience for Australian communities that depend on water and improve natural environment outcomes following natural disasters like bushfires and floods. ?

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3D-Printed Rocket Fails to Reach Orbit on Historic Test Flight: US company Relativity Space attempted to launch its 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket this week. The “Good Luck, Have Fun” test flight initially performed well but?failed to reach orbit approximately three minutes into launch. The launch, although unsuccessful, has proved the viability of using additive manufacturing technology to produce rockets.?

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Rocket Lab to Recover Rocket Stage from Ocean: SIAA member Rocket Lab is scheduled to launch a?pair of satellites on a dedicated mission?for BlackSky tonight from New Zealand. Rocket Lab’s Electron will carry two BlackSky Gen-2 Earth-imaging satellites, expanding BlackSky’s network in space to 16 satellites. As part of the mission Rocket Lab plans to recover Electron’s first stage upon splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Following the recovery, Rocket Lab will perform?analysis to inform future recovery and reuse missions. ?

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Japanese Moon Lander Reaches Lunar Orbit: A private Japanese moon lander has successfully reached lunar orbit this week.?Developed by Japanese company ispace, the Hakuto-R Spacecraft constitutes a significant milestone for the?company, with?aims to land the spacecraft on the moon next month. If successful, it will be the first privately-owned spacecraft to land softly on the moon.?

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Report Delivered to European Space Agency on European Space Revolution: An independent advisory group, has presented a report to?the European Space agency noting the need for ESA to?substantially increase its autonomy in human and robot space exploration. The report specifically notes that ESA has ‘no independent human launch capacity and therefore relies on non-European partners to send humans to space’. Greater autonomy in space will ensure that Europe remains a strong partner for international collaboration. ?The report was welcomed by ESA Director General who noted that Europe ‘The Revolution Space report is a wake-up call for European leaders to act now and not miss this opportunity. ESA has the expertise and the ambition. Together with our innovative industry, ESA can make it happen’.?

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China: Last week China launched its second classified Gaofen-13 remote sensing satellite from Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The Long March 3B rocket launch successfully sent the Gaofen-13 satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) has not detailed the satellite’s capabilities, rather stating that the satellite is high-orbit, high-resolution Earth Observation technology that is significant to the development of China’s space technology. ?

Industry Opportunities

Sustainability in Space Pitch Competition ?

Hosted by SIAA member Boeing in partnership with Advance Queensland and the Queensland Government the ‘Sustainability in Space Pitch Competition’ provides an opportunity for innovative Queensland-based businesses from any sector to gain access and exposure to key tech industry stakeholders including corporates, investors and government. Companies are encouraged to apply if they can demonstrate how their products/services can be utilised to address at least one of the competition’s three key topics. ?

The competition is open to QLD-based companies. ?

Applications closes April 10. Apply here ?

Upcoming Events ?

Diversity At the Frontier: Gender Equality in the Space Industry ?

When: 12 – 14 April ?

Where: The Shine Dome, Canberra ?

The ANU - Global Institute for Women's Leadership?has launched registrations for their inaugural Diversity at the Frontier: Gender Equality in Space Conference. From the 12th-14th April the conference and associated expert workshops and high-profile public event aim to convene world-leading academic experts, high level industry representatives, policymakers, and the next generation of the space workforce to understand the critical issues and opportunities surrounding Australia’s role in space. The conference is supported by SIAA members ANU InSpace and ACT Government. ?

Register for the conference 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.?See new jobs from SIAA Foundation member Northrop Grumman and SIAA members Thales, Fleet Space Technologies and Quasar Satellite Technologies.?

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

SIAA Member Profile: Raytracer ?

Raytracer ?is a space and defence-focused SME?headquartered in Queensland. The company’s capabilities include robotics, AI, spatial computing?and prototyping for space and defence applications. Raytracer’s?mission is to “enable safe and effective work in challenging and remote environments”???

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In 2020, Raytracer was a?recipient ?of?the Australian Space Agency’s International Space Investment initiative to develop their Titan Lake project. The Titan Lake project delivers?world-first underwater Virtual Reality (VR) simulations to train astronauts in underwater conditions. The various simulations under Titan Lake allow astronauts to experience?the weightlessness of space under neutral buoyancy conditions. The technology intends to deliver accessible and efficient training?for future manned missions to space.??

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Raytacer’s other major product is CARBON - ?a command and control stack that utilises that latest in robotics, spatial computing and AI technologies to force multiply exploration and remote operations in space. CARBON has been supported under the Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars Initiative, and Raytracer is currently partnered with SIAA Foundation Member Optus to utilise CARBON on their upcoming D3 Life Extension Mission.?

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Header Image Credit:?NASA