‘Ground Control’ has opened in South Australia’s Mid North
IT’S not quite a sheep paddock, but it’s pretty dam close. South Australia’s version of ‘The Dish’ has been unveiled today at Red Banks Reservoir, Pinkerton Plains.
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It’s not quite a sheep paddock, but it’s pretty dam close.
South Australia’s version of ‘The Dish’ has been unveiled today at Red Banks Reservoir, Pinkerton Plains.
Adelaide space start-up Fleet Space Technologies has announced Mission Control SA, a project to track satellites and transmit data.
It’s Australia’s first major project after the National Space Agency officially started work at the beginning of the month.
Smash-hit fictional film The Dish was loosely modelled on the Parkes radio telescope in NSW. Set in a sheep paddock, the telescope played a pivotal role in receiving footage of the first moon walk in 1969.
The Dish at Pinkerton Plains — Ground Control — will harvest information from satellites and send it to Mission Control at Beverley.
Later this year Fleet will complete the circle by launching the first two Australian-made commercial nanosatellites — Centauri I and Centauri II.
Using their own nanosatellites will drive down costs for their customers, who use the data-driven Internet of Things to manage food supply chains, run farms, or monitor the environment.
Eventually Fleet will launch a constellation of 100 nanosatellites into orbit.
The Centaurus have just got their Overseas Launch Certificate, clearing the way to send them up on a rocket launched in the United States.
Fleet chief executive officer Flavia Tata Nardini said the entire process was enormously complicated but the Space Agency as well as Italian company Leaf Space helped them turn it around in just six months.
“It’s fascinating to see all the pieces of the puzzle come together,” she said. “We are closing the loop on the Internet of Things.”
Ms Nardini said they would probably still be waiting on all the right licensing if it wasn’t for the Space Agency.
“You can pick up the phone and say you have an issue and there are people there to help you,” she said.
Other space start-ups will be able to use the ground station, which Ms Nardini said was “democratising space”.
Australian Space Agency head Megan Clark said it was an “important milestone”.
“This ground station is an example of some of the great space-related activities underway in Australia,” she said.
The former state Labor Government contributed $500,000 towards Fleet.