Australian space heritage for novel technologies and instruments turned a new chapter today.

Five Aussie payloads that were part of SpaceX's latest mission, Transporter-14, lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in the United States.

A Falcon 9 rocket launched Transporter-14, which is a dedicated smallsat rideshare mission that included cubesats, microsats, and re-entry capsules such as Varda Space Industrie's Winnebago-4 (W-4). 

The W-4 return mission is part of the authorisation granted by the Australian Government under the amended Space (Launches and Returns) Act 2018.

  • CubeSat Propulsion Systems | Valiant Space
  • Multi Mission Satellite 1 | Gilmour Space Technologies
  • RASCube-1 | Robinson Aerospace
  • Espresso and Nexus | Akula Tech
  • Lyra 3 | Echostar Global
Space technology
A peek inside Transporter-14 ahead of launch. Image credit: SpaceX

Soaring to new heights

The Transporter-14 mission launched a suite of space technology from around the world, including payloads from German firm Exolaunch, Space Forge in the United Kingdom, and Unseen Labs in France among others.

Two of the five Australian payloads belonged to Australian Space Agency grant recipients — Valiant Space and Gilmour Space Technologies. 

CubeSat Propulsion Systems

  • Valiant Space is an Australian based company specialising in advanced manufacturing, assembly, integration, testing and custom designing of space technology.
  • Their payload is a CubeSat propulsion demonstrator with three propulsion systems integrated into the host satellite the D-ORBIT ION satellite.
  • Valiant Space has been advancing its line of non-toxic thrusters, designed to support space missions from CubeSats to large interplanetary spacecraft.
  • The company was awarded a combined $2.5 million in grant funding as part of the Australian Government’s Moon to Mars Initiative, which includes expanding Australia's sovereign in-space propulsion capability.

Multi Mission Satellite 1 (MMS-1)

  • Gilmour Space Technologies is a venture-capital-backed Australian launch services company that develops new capabilities for launching satellites to space.
  • Onboard Transporter-14 was the company’s first satellite bus, ElaraSat, a 100-kg satellite platform built for diverse missions in orbit.
  • Its first mission, MMS-1, will utilise a hosted hyperspectral imager payload developed by the CSIRO that is designed to monitor water quality from space.
  • Last year, the Australian Government issued its first commercial orbital launch permit to Gilmour Space Technologies and authorising the launch of its Eris 1 launch vehicle from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in Abbot Point, Queensland. 
A rocket being launched from a site

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RASCube-1

  • Robinson Aerospace is an Australian company developing educational satellite platforms.
  • The 1U CubeSat is the company's first payload to be launched into space.
  • There are various payloads inside the technology, which were built by school students from across seven countries.
  • Australian student Jackson Burford developed the VEXUS sub-payload to measure radiation, magnetic fields and types of shielding during its time in orbit. 
Space technology

13-year-old Jackson Burford from South Australia had his experiment go to space on the Transporter-14 mission.

Espresso and Nexus

  • Akula Tech is based out of Melbourne, Victoria and specialises in designing, building and deploying next generation artificial intelligence-based satellite systems.
  • The company's payloads will work together to achieve data pre-processing and artificial model inferencing in space using hyperspectral imaging technology.
  • The technology will be hosted on Dhruva Space’s first commercial satellite LEAP-1. 

Lyra-3

  • EchoStar Global is a global provider of satellite communication solutions.
  • The Australian Government authorised the launch of a series of satellites – Lyra-1, Lyra-2, Lyra-3, and Lyra-4.
  • The four satellites, launched separately, will form “Block One” of an eventual planned Lyra Constellation. 
A view of earth from space

Responsibility and regulations

The key elements to growing a globally respected Australian space sector are responsibility, sustainability and cooperation that meets international obligations and norms.

More details

Main image credit: SpaceX

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