Southern Space - 29 April

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

Industry News

Australia’s First Astronaut Qualified: Australian astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg made history last week to graduate as the first qualified astronaut under the Australian flag. Following 13 months of training in Germany with the European Space Agency (ESA), Katherine graduated as an astronaut alongside five other peers. Katherine is now eligible for future missions to the International Space Station (ISS).?

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One Giant Leap Postcards to Space: SIAA Member One Giant Leap Australia Foundation , Hylmpulse and Yuri teamed up to launch postcards to space on behalf of Australian school students. The postcards will be launched as part of a payload on board HyImpulse's SR75 rocket, set to launch this week from SIAA Member Southern Launch Launch's Koonibba Test Range. One Giant Leap Australia Foundation invited students to design these postcards as part of an industry wide effort to engage young people with the space industry.?

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Kanyini Shipped to US: SIAA Member Inovor Technologies has confirmed that the South Australian space mission satellite Kanyini has been packaged and shipped off to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. The satellite successfully passed all final testing before shipment to the Launch Service Provider, ready for launch in the coming months.??

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Centauri-6 Satellite Launch: SIAA Member Fleet Space Technologies announced the launch of the company’s Centauri-6 Satellite as part of SpaceX’s Bandwagon mission. The satellite was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that took off from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida on April 8. The addition of Centauri-6 to Fleet Space’s satellite constellation will play a key role in servicing demand for the company’s ExoSphere mineral exploration solution.??

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HEO Sidus Space Second Contract: SIAA Member HEO has signed a second contract with Sidus Space for non-earth imaging payload and data services. As part of the agreement, Sidus Space will host HEO’s HOLMES-006 imager onboard LizzieSat-3 as part of the Bandwagon-2 launch scheduled for November 2024. The companies additionally agreed to a monthly data services contract.???

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Rocket Lab ‘Beginning of the Swarm’ Mission: SIAA Member Rocket Lab recently completed a dual satellite deployment with the launch of NEONSAT-1, a South Korean imaging satellite and ACS3, a NASA solar sail experiment. An Electron rocket launched the South Korean smallsat and NASA cubesat from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand on April 23.?

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Southern Launch MoU with SpaceWorks: SIAA Member Southern Launch signed an MoU with SpaceWorks, an aerospace company manufacturing advanced space transportation systems. The MoU will establish a collaborative relationship between SpaceWorks and Southern Launch to investigate facilitating the return of SpaceWorks Re-Entry Devices (RED) to the Koonibba Test Range.?

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Australia-UK Space Projects Announced: The Australian and UK Space Agencies have announced that they will co-fund three upcoming collaborative space projects between the UK and Australia. The projects were selected under phase two of the UK’s International Bilateral Fund, with Australia co-funding these projects through the Australian Space Agency’s International Space Investment Fund initiative. The projects address a range of concerns related to life on Earth, such as food security and sustainable space activities.?

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CSIRO Project Expanded to UK: The CSIRO’s ‘weather service for water quality’ project will expand to the UK following the successful completion of testing in south-west England. AquaWatch UK was chosen as one of the three collaborative space projects between the UK and Australia. The project utilises EO satellites and ground-based sensors to investigate changes to water quality.??

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China: China’s human spaceflight agency confirmed that the Shenzhou-18 crew arrived at Tiangong space station on April 25. The Shenzhou-18 spacecraft, with a crew of three astronauts, were launched aboard Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan spaceport earlier that day.??

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Boeing Starliner Completes Review: The first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is closer to launch after recently completing the two-day Flight Test Readiness Review. Launch of the spacecraft is for May 6, with backup launch opportunities available on May 7, 10 and 11.?

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Artemis Accords: Switzerland, Slovenia and Sweden have become the latest nation states to sign onto NASA’s Artemis Accords , bringing the total number of signatories to 39.??

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Industry Opportunities

Earth Observation Australia Advancing Earth Observation Forum Abstracts Open.?

Earth Observation Australia’s Advancing Earth Observation Forum, to be held 10-12 September this year in Adelaide, is currently accepting abstracts. The call for abstracts is currently open and closing on 3 May 2024.?

See here to submit.?

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South Australian Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund???

SIAA Member the South Australian Space Industry Centre (SASIC), in collaboration with the Defence Innovation Partnership, has launched a new grant fund to support the development of innovative South Australian space capability.?

Two grants of up to $100,000 each, will be available for the first round of the Fund, matched by a co-contribution from applicants, to support projects that focus on proof-of-concept or delivery of space capability and have a clear commercial pathway. SASIC is seeking applications from South Australian-based start-ups or SMEs in collaboration with at least one international partner organisation, with an emphasis on NewSpace technology.?

Applications close 17 May 2024. See here for more.?

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Upcoming Events

SIAA Melbourne Space Drinks?

Where: FiftyFive Bar, Melbourne?

When: 30th April, 5pm-7pm?

Join SIAA for an industry networking drinks to celebrate the Victorian space community.?

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IAC2025 Space Sector Workshop Hobart?

Where: Hobart CBD?

When: Thursday 2 May, 9am-11am AEST?

SIAA invites the ACT space community to join us for an industry workshop to assist SIAA in shaping IAC2025 in Sydney.??

Please email [email protected] to register.???

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AusSpace24 Australian Space Summit and Expo?

Space Connect is hosting the upcoming AusSpace24 Summit and Expo across 28 and 29 May next month. This year’s event, to be held at the ICC Sydney over two days, will host two main stages, over 70 speakers, and an audience of more than 1,000 dedicated space enthusiasts.?

Sessions will delve into discussions shedding light on how space technology can enhance our daily lives and contribute to our nation’s prosperity. SIAA is a supporting partner to the event this year, as part of which attendees can use our discount code [SIAA] to save on tickets.??

When: 28 & 29 May 2024?

Where: ICC Sydney?

Register to attend 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: FOODiQ Global??

Founded with an underlying purpose to be changemakers in global human health and nutrition, FOODiQ Global is an Australian food and nutrition science, communication and education company. The organisation was initially founded in 2009 as Nutrition Research Australia (NRAUS), followed by a rebranding to FOODiQ Global in 2023. FOODiQ creates, synthesises and simplifies science to enable companies, organisations, healthcare professionals and individuals to place food-based nutrition and health at the centre of business strategy and choice.??

Beyond food and nutrition science research, the company provides a range of end-to-end services encompassing strategy, communication, education, food regulations and science translation. FOODiQ employs the company’s iQ3 strategy development process to identify a food nutrition issue or problem, investigate opportunities, and implement the optimal solution with scale and impact.?

Founder and CEO of FOODiQ, Dr Flávia Fayet-Moore is a scientist, space nutritionist and entrepreneur.???

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Header Image Credit:?The Colorado Plateau (NASA, ISS, 12-03-13)