Over the next fortnight, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson will take off into space, because they can, on spaceships designed by their respective companies. It’s a big moment for the private space industry. But the question comes to mind: who has the smarter plan? A billionaire’s space race On… Read more »
Three South Australian startups have furthered their plans to support the international space industry. All based in Adelaide, the companies include Fleet Space Technologies, Inovor Technologies and Southern Launch. Southern Launch has been approved to conduct three rocket test launches from its site at Whalers Way reserve on the southern tip of the Eyre Peninsula… Read more »
Sydney spacetech startup Spiral Blue has launched its first prototype computers, called Space Edge Zero (SEZ), into orbit aboard Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket. Spiral Blue’s SEZ computer will introduce in-space processing of satellite images, currently unavailable to Earth observation satellites. Traditionally, Earth observation data is downloaded into a raw format from Earth observation satellites and… Read more »
The $61m series C included local VCs Blackbird & Main Sequence Gilmour Space plans to launch its first space mission from Australian soil in 2022 Its hybrid rocket offers an environmentally friendly, lower cost launch capability Gold Coast-based rocket design company Gilmour Space has landed a whopping $61 million (US$47m) series C round as… Read more »
Victoria is taking on South Australia in the local space race with RMIT University in Melbourne announced plans for a new Space Industry Hub for local companies and researchers. The Victorian government is backing the plan with $1 million in funding matched by SmartSat CRC.This funding will establish several flagship research projects aimed at connecting local… Read more »
Amazon boss Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark will be among the first passengers aboard his Blue Origin space mission next month. The world’s second richest man took to Instagram to announce he’d be aboard New Shepard’s first human flight on July 20. “Ever since I was five years old, I’ve dreamed of traveling to… Read more »
Billionaire Jeff Bezos’s space launch company Blue Origin has announced it will sell its first flights into microgravity to the highest bidder. Blue Origin and its two greatest competitors in the “space tourism” field, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, claim to be advancing humanity through the “democratisation” of space. But these joyrides aren’t opening up access… Read more »
A large piece of space debris, possibly weighing several tonnes, is currently on an uncontrolled reentry phase (that’s space speak for “out of control”), and parts of it are expected to crash down to Earth over the next few weeks. If that isn’t worrying enough, it is impossible to predict exactly where the pieces that… Read more »
As tens of thousands of satellites are launched into orbit over Earth, UNSW Sydney startup HEO Robotics is looking to launch a space camera next year to help them keep an eye on their space assets. With tech companies ranging from Elon Musk’s Starlink to defence, weather and Internet of Things tech startups all launching… Read more »
Space tech incubator Moonshot has nearly trebled its planned investments in local space startups, backing 11 ventures, rather than the four it had planned for 2021. As Moonshot beds down its space tech accelerator and pre-accelerator programs, CEO Troy McCann said they were overwhelmed by the quality of the applicants. “We coordinated a whopping 225… Read more »
Two of Australia’s New Space pioneers — Queensland rocket manufacturer Gilmour Space Technologies, and South Australian nanosatellite manufacturer for the Internet of Things (IoT), Fleet Space Technologies — are joining forces to launch small satellites to orbit. “We have signed a contract to launch six Fleet Space Centauri nanosatellites on our Eris rockets in 2023,”… Read more »
The Australian Space Forum to be held in South Australia this month will focus on bringing further investment and collaboration opportunities to the growing Australian space industry. The 11th Australian Space Forum will be held on 31 March 2021, in Adelaide, South Australia and will feature the new head of the Australian Space Agency, Enrico… Read more »
The skies above Earth are going to become as busy as peak hour traffic in the next few years as companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, as well as Amazon, filling the heavens with tens of thousands of satellites. And all that traffic is going to create issues with avoiding collisions, which is where Australian… Read more »
Queensland tech startup Fireball International’s bushfire detection satellite will head into orbit in 2022 thanks to an all-Australian deal that includes in-space transportation provider, Space Machines Company, and rocket company Gilmour Space Technologies. Space Machines Co.’s ‘space taxi’, Optimus-1, carries passenger satellites to orbit around Earth, or potentially to higher bodies like the Moon or Mars.… Read more »
The University of Adelaide is sending pills to the International Space Station (ISS) to determine if it will be possible to produce medicine in space to enable longer-term space missions. Scheduled to launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Sunday 21 February, the pills will contain Ibuprofen and vitamin C as active ingredients,… Read more »
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