SpIRIT — Space Industry Responsive Intelligent Thermal — demonstrated Aussie-designed spacecraft technologies in orbit as well as advancing high-performance autonomous operations, communications and thermal systems.
The mission was led by the University of Melbourne, in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency, and made possible through investment from the Australian Space Agency. The novel nanosatellite received $7 million in funding from the Agency and exceeded its original two-year design life.
Over its lifetime, the 11.5-kilogram shoebox-sized spacecraft completed about 16,000 orbits of Earth – travelling around 690 million kilometres in total, equivalent to the distance from Earth to Jupiter.
The Australian Space Agency granted authorisation for this space activity on 7 September 2023.
