Southern Space - 7 July

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

Industry News

Telstra to Offer Starlink Services to Australian Customers: This week Telstra announced that it will partner with Starlink to provide internet and voice call services in direct competition with NBN Co’s Sky Muster satellite. NBN is currently exploring options to offer new telecommunications services that can match those of Starlink, including by engaging with companies in the small satellite industry. The Australian Financial Review has suggested that there are currently 120,000 Starlink customers in Australia, compared to 93,000 current customers of NBN’s Sky Muster. ?

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Hawkeye 360 Procures DFAT Contract to Monitor Illegal Fishing in Pacific Islands: Hawkeye 360 has been selected by the Australian government to help detect illegal fishing activity using radio-frequency sensors. Hawkeye 360 was awarded a contract of undisclosed value from DFAT for a pilot program supporting the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency. The Agency and its members will receive data, analytics services and training support to identify illicit maritime activities within the Pacific region. Under the contract, the company will provide satellite RF maritime analytics and training through 2023.?

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Fleet Space Successfully?Confirms Grant for Moon to Mars: SIAA Member Fleet Space Technologies has successfully been awarded a $4 million contract with the Australian Space Agency for its Moon to Mars: Demonstrator program. The company has been chosen for the project Seismic Payload for Interplanetary Discovery, Exploration and Research (SPIDER). The grant contract will assist Fleet Space to build the geophysical devices to enable resource exploration of the moon for future human habitation. The SPIDER, a three-component seismic station, is set to be deployed on the surface of the Moon’s South Pole. Designed to record continuous seismic data for up to 14 days, the device will be launched aboard a commercial lander.?

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ANU InSpace Secures Grant Funding under Moon to Mars: SIAA Member the ANU Institute for Space (ANU InSpace) has successfully been awarded grant funding for two projects under the Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars Initiative. The Institute will produce laser stabilisation flight technology for the next GRACE (gravity sensing) mission. Additionally, an ANU-led consortium will establish the first Australian deep space communication-capable optical ground station by upgrading the ANU optical ground station?to be compatible with NASA’s Optical to Orion (O2O) mission. ?

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Raytracer Moon to Mars Demonstrater Grants Announced: SIAA Member Raytracer has successfully secured a Moon to Mars grant from the Australian Space Agency. The company will partner with SIAA Foundation Member Optus to launch Raytracer’s CARBON command-and-control software on a world-first On-orbit Servicing, Assembly & Manufacturing (OSAM) mission. The mission will deliver a Mission Robotic Vehicle and Extension Pod to Optus’s D3 satellite, adding a further six years of life of extension. ?

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iLAuNCH Trailblazer Officially Established: This week SIAA member iLAuNCH Trailblazer was officially established through a formal ceremony held at the University of Southern Queensland’s Toowoomba campus. Assistant Minister for Education Senator Anthony Chisholm noted that “iLAuNCH is harnessing Australia’s natural and competitive strengths to diversify and transform Australia’s economy, workforce and industry, while creating more sustainable, high-value jobs for all Australians”. iLAuNCH Trailblazer’s $180 million program will invest in space industry research, commercialisation and manufacturing over a period of four years, with the Trailblazer featuring three universities and over 20 industry partners. ?

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Ariane 5 Successful Final Launch: Arianespace successfully completed the final launch of the Ariane 5 rocket?on Wednesday, July 5th from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket launched a pair of satellites for the German and French governments, delivering the payloads to geostationary orbit. ESA had initially planned the 117th and final launch of Ariane 5 for after the debut of Ariane 6. However, the agency has been experiencing delays with Ariane 6, and will likely have a gap in launch operations until the vehicle is ready in late 2023 or potentially 2024.?

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SDA: The US Space Development Agency (SDA) has issued a solicitation for 100 satellites, intended for its Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The SDA is seeking industry proposals for the 100 Alpha satellites that will form part of the Tranche 2 Transport Layer of the PWSA proliferated constellation. The Transport Layer will provide ‘global communications access and deliver persistent regional encrypted connectivity in support of warfighter missions around the globe’. Industry proposals will be accepted until July 28, with two vendors likely to be selected. ?

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India signs Artemis Accords: Last month, India officially signed onto NASA’s Artemis Accords as part of broader plans to extend cooperation in space between India and the United States. The countries additionally agreed that NASA and ISRO would jointly develop ‘a strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation’ by the end of the year, as well as planned joint mission to the ISS in 2024.?

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China: Space Pioneer, a private Chinese space company, has planned the inaugural launch of its TL 3 Carrier rocket for 2024. It is anticipated that the launch will take place from Jiquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China in the first half of 2024, with further two launches planned later in the year and twelve launches planned for 2025. The TL 3 rocket has been designed to deploy large satellites as well as multiple small satellites in a single mission, with capacity to transport over 10 metric tons of payload into diverse orbital paths. ?

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ESA Successfully Launches Euclid Telescope: Last week, the European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched the Euclid Space Telescope aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The six-year ESA mission seeks to investigate dark matter and dark energy, observing the past 10 billion years with the formation of stars and galaxies and when dark energy ‘started to be dominant’. The Euclid telescope was built by SIAA Member Thales Alenia and Airbus Defence & Space.?

SIAA Member Profile: Spire

Spire?(NYSE: SPIR) is a global provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, offering unique datasets and powerful insights about Earth so that organizations can make decisions with confidence in a rapidly changing world. Spire builds, owns and operates a fully deployed satellite constellation that observes the Earth in real time using radio frequency technology. The data acquired by Spire’s satellites provides global weather intelligence, ship and plane movements, and spoofing and jamming detection to better predict how their patterns impact economies, global security, business operations and the environment. Spire also offers Space as a Service solutions that empower customers to leverage its established infrastructure to put their business in space. Spire has eight offices across the U.S., Canada, UK, Luxembourg and Singapore. ???

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Spire's?Space as a Service model?simplifies and eliminates the technical and financial risks for customers by providing a subscription-based solution. It covers all aspects of a satellite mission, from design and manufacturing to launch and deployment. Spire owns and operates a constellation of 100+ satellites that are equipped with software defined radios which collect signals of interest across VHF, UHF, L, S, X, Ku and Ka band.??

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In June 2023,?Spire and OroraTech, the global industry leader in space-based thermal intelligence,?announced?that OroraTech has commissioned Spire to build, launch and operate an eight-satellite constellation dedicated to global temperature monitoring. Once operational, it will represent the first and largest constellation of satellites dedicated to tracking and monitoring wildfires.??

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Spire recognises the Australian space ecosystem's immense potential and is actively working with key stakeholders, including government agencies, research institutions?and industry players, to support and contribute to the growth of Australia's space capabilities.?

Header Image Credit: Archive- Alluvial Fans in Algeria (NASA.GOV, ISS, 01-23-09) ?

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