Southern Space - 7 November

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

Industry News

iLAuNCH and Space Machines Company Partner: SIAA Members iLAuNCH Trailblazer and Space Machines Company have announced a partnership to qualify the Optimus platform, Space Machines Company’s upcoming commercial transport and servicing spacecraft. The Optimus platform is designed to provide servicing and protection for in-space infrastructure. Prior to a scheduled launch in early 2024, Optimus will firstly need to pass rigorous testing procedures. As part of this, SIAA member iLAuNCH Trailblazer will bring together the research and infrastructure of The Australian National University enabled by the SIAA member the ANU Institute for Space (InSpace), with the design process of Space Machines Company. The project aims to space qualify the Optimus Platform at TRL 8 for flight readiness through the National Space Test Facility at ANU.??

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SDA Contracts Awarded: SIAA Foundation Member Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $732 million contract by the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) to build and operate 38 communications satellites that will be a part of Transport Layer Tranche 2 Alpha of the SDA’s proliferated warfighter space architecture. The contract includes ground systems and five years of operations and sustainment. York Space was awarded a contract for the remaining 62 satellites.?

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WA SpAARC Investment: The Western Australian government announced the investment of a further $5 million into the Space Automation AI and Robotics Control Complex (SpAARC) Facility. SpAARC is overseen by geodata company Fugro, a member of SIAA Member AROSE consortium. The facility was set up in 2022 to support new space robotics projects, including the Artemis missions.??

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Fast Radio Burst Discovery: A team led by two Australian researchers , Macquarie University’s Dr Stuart Ryder and SIAA Member Swinburne University’s Ryan Shannon, recently discovered a fast radio burst thought to be eight billion years old, the most distant and ancient fast radio burst discovered thus far. Using the CSIRO’s ASKAP telescope, the researchers believe the discovery confirms fast radio bursts can be used to measure missing matter between galaxies.?

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Rocket Lab Appoints New Board Director: This week, SIAA Member Rocket Lab announced that retired U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno has joined the company’s board of directors. Armagno was most recently the director of staff in the Office of the Chief of Space Operations at the Pentagon.?

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Artemis Accords: The Netherlands and Iceland have become the latest nations to sign onto NASA’s Artemis Accords—bringing the total number of signatories to 31. Signatories to the Accords met at the IAC in Baku last month to discuss progress on two working groups, one investigating the improvement transparency in lunar exploration missions, and the other focused on increasing the engagement of the Artemis Accords.??

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ULA: United Launch Alliance has officially set a planned launch date for the inaugural flight of the Vulcan Centaur rocket. The Cert-1 mission will launch on December 24, Christmas Eve, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. ULA has noted there are additional launch opportunities on December 25, 26 and a backup window in January.??

U.S. Senate Passes ORBITS Act: The United States Senate has passed an orbital debris bill that will direct NASA to establish an active debris removal program, as well as require NASA to fly a demonstration mission for debris removal. ?

Industry Opportunities

iLAuNCH Second Round Investment Call?

SIAA Member iLAuNCH is holding an online information session for their second round investment call, allowing interested applicants to learn more about suitability to apply, and gain further tips on the application process. The Expressions of Interest for Project Funding aims to create further opportunities for industry-led R&D to elevate the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of research projects. This Open Call will utilise the remaining funding from the $180 million program to foster the creation and commercialisation of space and aerospace-related research and innovation in Australia.?

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The Second Round Investment Call opens Friday 6 October 2023, and closes at midnight AEST on Monday 20 November 2023. See here for more details.?

Upcoming Events

2023 Australian Space Domain Awareness and Space Traffic Management Conference

When: 21-23 November

Where: UNSW Canberra

The Australian Space Domain Awareness and Space Traffic Management Conference brings together key researchers, users, and decision makers from the Australian space sector. The conference will showcase new technologies, identify gaps in current technology and provide an inter-disciplinary forum to drive Australian SDA and STM policy and business initiatives. The conference will run over 3 full days, consisting of talks, workshops and poster sessions.

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.

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

SIAA Member Profile: Jacobs

Jacobs is a global leader in the professional services sector continually challenging today and reinventing tomorrow to provide solutions for a more connected and sustainable world.?In Australia, Jacobs operates across two lines of business – Critical Missions Solutions (Jacobs Australia) and People and Places Solutions (Jacobs Group Australia). For more than 25 years, Jacobs Australia has supported public and private sector clients to deliver complex critical mission systems and infrastructure of national security significance. Headquartered in Canberra, Jacobs Australia offers a range of specialist services across all engineering disciplines, mission planning, space launch and operations, test and verification, program and project management, acquisition and sustainment, contract management, export controls and ITAR management, digital solutioning, and other specialist areas.

Jacobs Australia is also an active participant in the Australian space industry and has been a member of the Space Industry Association of Australia since 2018. The company supports clients ranging from start-ups to fast-moving commercial launch service providers, as well as government departments including the Australian Space Agency and Department of Defence (Defence). Jacobs Australia’s support to Defence includes working as integrated team members in Space Capability Branch and Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group to support approval and implementation of a range of space surveillance, tracking and situational awareness projects.

In the United States, Jacobs is the largest service provider to NASA and helped to prepare Cape Canaveral for commercial space ventures including SpaceX and Blue Origin. In 2022, the company supported the launch of NASA’s Artemis 1 mission, the development of thermal protection components to protect Orion during re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, and as part of the team that recovered the Orion capsule from the ocean. The company also worked on development and test of the mission’s re-entry parachute system and launch abort system. In early 2023, Jacobs was awarded a $3.2 billion contract to manage launch infrastructure and ground processing at the Kennedy Space Centre over the next decade. Jacobs has worked with NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex mission and the spacecraft that recently returned a capsule to Earth carrying samples from the asteroid Bennu.

For further information, please contact Director Space and Nuclear Business Development Luigi Sorbello.

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Header Image Credit:?Banks Peninsula, New Zealand (NASA, ISS, 31-05-14)