• Radar satellites can warn of bushfires and floods

    Open Forum     |      April 27, 2021

    New research led by Curtin University has revealed how radar satellites can improve the ability to detect, monitor, prepare for and withstand natural disasters in Australia including bushfires, floods and earthquakes.

  • Fleet launches fifth nanosatellite

    Rebecca Atkinson     |      March 25, 2021

    Fleet Space Technologies has launched its fifth nanosatellite, Centauri 3 from New Zealand’s Launch Complex 1 at Mahia Peninsula aboard a Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle.

  • Fleet aims high to boost satellite production

    Rebecca Atkinson     |      March 23, 2021

    South Australian nanosatellite company Fleet Space Technologies has applied for a $5 Million Federal government Modern Manufacturing Initiative (MMI) grant so that it can jump from building three hand-built nanosatellites a year to mass-producing 50. 

  • Life on Mars

    Open Forum     |      March 11, 2021

    Robotic mining that can provide water and fuel is the key to developing a colony on the red planet within the next 30 years.

  • Successful engine test brings Australian space launch capability a step closer

    Open Forum     |      February 27, 2021

    An Australian research consortium has successfully tested a next generation propulsion system that could enable high-speed flight and space launch services. The team’s rotating detonation engine, or RDE, is a major technical achievement and an Australian first.

  • QUT researchers celebrate Mars touchdown

    Open Forum     |      February 20, 2021

    QUT researchers are now ready to play their part in NASA’s search for signs of ancient life of Mars with the successful touchdown of the Mars Perseverance Rover.

  • They go up so fast

    Rebecca Atkinson     |      February 11, 2021

    South Australian nanosatellite company Fleet Space Technologies is heading back into space, with the launch of their fifth nanosatellite Centauri 3 next month, aboard Rocket Lab’s They Go Up So Fast mission.

  • Seven sisters into space

    Malcolm Davis     |      February 1, 2021

    A consortium of companies in South Australia, led by small-satellite developer Fleet Space Technologies, is preparing for a series of missions to the moon as well as planning for future missions to Mars.

  • Australia’s rising star in space

    Malcolm Davis     |      January 16, 2021

    Australia is one of eight nations to commit to the Artemis Accords, an agreement setting out principles for cooperation in civil exploration and peaceful use of the moon, Mars, near-earth comets and asteroids.

  • 6 space missions to light up 2021

    Ian Whittaker     |      January 4, 2021

    While manned missions to the Moon and Mars seem as far away as ever, there are many interesting unmanned missions planned by an ever-wider range of countries planned for 2021.

  • Aiming higher in space

    Open Forum     |      December 2, 2020

    Expanding Australia’s international collaboration in space should be seen as an important element of our soft power and a means to contribute public goods that promote international cooperation in space.

  • Moon river

    Andrew Dempster     |      October 29, 2020

    Researchers have long suspected there’s water – or ice, to be precise – on the Moon. New research now confirms it, and suggests it lurks in sun-starved nooks and crannies called ‘cold traps’.