Southern Space - 28 August

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

Dear Members,?

We’re moving our weekly industry newsletter to be published on Monday mornings so you can get ahead of the week by reading the latest on Australian and international space news and events. Starting this week too, SIAA members will receive regular updates from our CEO as we move into a critical period of development for the Australian space industry.?

Some changes in staff at SIAA. Tracey Roberts has joined as Executive Assistant in our Sydney office. Paroma Dunbar will shortly join SIAA as our inaugural Optus Industry Fellow with a mandate to work on professional development, workforce, engagement with educational institutions, and national internship programs. This is a critical role to help stitch together the national space industry workforce and help ensure we have the talent pipeline our industry needs to grow. Paroma will be based in Victoria. Sybilla Wilson has been seconded to SIAA from the Australian Space Agency to assist with preparations for IAC Sydney 2025. Based in Queensland, Sybilla will be the point person for federal government engagement and coordination for IAC. We are recruiting now for an IAC Director to support our program, applications for that role close on 1 September. We recently farewelled James Linton from SIAA and thank him for his hard work in supporting Australia’s space industry at a critical time. Our now expanded team gives SIAA the capability it needs to start to bring IAC Sydney 2025 to life, as well as to deliver more for our industry in the lead up to that internationally significant event.?

SIAA has consulted widely within industry, amongst international partners, and with government in the weeks following the cancellation of the National Space Mission for Earth Observation, including productive conversations with Industry Minister Husic and his office. The CEO’s update will detail to members the next steps SIAA plans in working with government to build a stronger space industry to support Australia’s climate, security, and economic goals. The Parliamentary Friends of Space event, scheduled to be held at Parliament House Canberra on Monday 16th October will be an excellent opportunity to hear from parliamentarians on their priority needs from our industry, as well as to showcase our achievements in the national capital.?

SIAA is establishing a national security space committee from amongst its membership to allow a forum for focused discussion on defence and intelligence space industry issues, challenges, and opportunities. Corporate members actively working in the national security space sector, with a representative cleared to NV1 level, will be able to nominate to join this committee. Details on how to nominate will be sent directly to corporate members this week.?

Finally, as we approach the 2023 IAC in Baku, please let our operations team know if your company is attending so we can include you in Team Australia preparations.?

Industry News

Chandrayaan-3 Moon Landing: The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft successfully landed on the moon on Wednesday, making history for India as the fourth nation to soft-land on the moon, and the first to land near the moon’s south pole. Chandrayaan-3 was launched in mid-July, marking a 40-day journey orbiting the Earth several times before soft-landing on the moon. It is planned that the solar-powered Pragyaan rover will roll off the Vikram lander to explore the lunar surface and transmit data back to Earth over the next two weeks. The Chandrayaan mission cost an estimated $74.6 million USD.?

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Amendments to ASA Space (Launches and Returns) Rules: The Australian Space Agency has announced amendments to the Space (Launches and Returns) (General) Rules 2019 and Space (Launches and Returns) (High Power Rocket) Rules 2019. The amendments will allow companies to use in-house capability, provided they are suitably qualified, rather than officially requiring external expertise. The changes intend to remove barriers to participation, while maintaining the safety of Australian space activities. The amendments commenced on 17 August 2023. See here for more information.?

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Asension Partnership with Alaris Antennas: SIAA member Asension has announced a strategic partnership with Alaris Antennas, a global manufacturer of antenna solutions for EW spectrum monitoring and communications. Asension signed a distribution agreement with Alaris, making the company a trusted supplier for Alaris Antennas in Australia and New Zealand.?

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Blacktree Technology Growth Report: SIAA member Blacktree Technology has announced $1.2m in export sales across the 2022/2023 financial year, a 400% growth. These recent contracts represent the largest value in export sales in Blacktree’s history, including the company’s largest export consignment yet—a 2.5 tonne UHF SATCOM Antenna system.?

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HEO $12M Funding Round: SIAA Member HEO Robotics, now known as HEO, has successfully raised $12M in series A funding. The funds will further advance the development of HEO’s non-Earth imaging software platform, the HEO Inspect, and expand the company’s coverage in space.?

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Rocket Lab Launch Milestone: SIAA member Rocket Lab has successfully launched its 40th Electron mission this week for Capella Space. The launch constitutes several milestones for the company, including an ocean splashdown of the Electron first stage, and the re-use of a previously launched 3D-printed Rutherford engine.?

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SDA Tranche 2 Contracts Awarded: SIAA Foundation Members Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have been awarded $1.5 billion contracts from the US Space Development Agency (SDA) to develop a total of 72 satellites for the SDA’s proliferated warfighter space architecture. The companies will build and operate 36 satellites each for the Tranche 2 Transport Layer of the SDA’s constellation in LEO.?

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USQ Joins International Space Research Mission: The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) will join UK-based vertical farming research and design company, Vertical Future, to investigate ways of growing plants in space. They join other partners including SIAA member the University of Adelaide, the University of Cambridge, Axiom Space and Saber Astronautics. The project will research the design requirements for a fully autonomous agriculture system that can be monitored and operated remotely or with AI, which can be used to support future space exploration.?

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Australian Indigenous Students Commence NASA Internship: Five Indigenous students that won a competition organised by Monash University, and funded by the Australian Space Agency, have commenced their 10-week internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The students will work on ongoing NASA projects, including projects involving robotics and AI.?

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Industry Opportunities

Global Space Challenge Scholarship:

With support from the Department of Industry Science and Resources, Queensland Government, SIAA Members One Giant Leap Australia Foundation and iLAuNCH are sponsoring 32 students from Queensland to participate in the Global Space Challenge.?

Space Teams is a 6-day program and is open to students ages 12 and up. To be eligible for the scholarship, participants must be a Queensland school student enrolled in an education institution or home schooling for Year 7 or Year 8.?

Registrations close midnight 1 September 2023. For more information and to apply, see here.

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DARPA Issues Solicitation for LunA-10 Study:?

The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has issued a solicitation for the agency’s 10-Year Lunar Architecture capability study. The study seeks to establish an analytical framework that defines new opportunities for rapid scientific and commercial activity on and around the Moon through collective infrastructure investments, and also identify related challenges. LunA-10 aims to select performer companies that have a clear vision and rigorous business plan for providing or using one or more lunar services, and then fuel them to work together in a highly collaborative environment where they will design new integrated system-level solutions that span multiple services.?

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Submissions close 6 September 2023. For more information, and to submit an abstract see here?

Job Opportunities – IAC Sydney Director

SIAA has opened applications for the IAC Sydney Director. The IAC Sydney Director will assist the CEO of SIAA in the preparation and planning for this major international space event. Working with an appointed professional conference organiser, the local organising committee, and the Australian Space Agency, the IAC Sydney Director will manage day-to-day activities for SIAA in the lead-up to the event. Applicants should send a one-page CV and one-page cover letter in PDF format to [email protected] no later than 5pm AEST Friday 1 September.?

View the job posting on LinkedIn. And on SIAA’s Southern Space Jobs Board.?

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

Header Image Credit: Perseid Meteor Shower 2016 from West Virginia (NASA, Bill Ingalls, 12-08-16)?

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