South Australian owned and manufactured satellite Kanyini successfully launched into low Earth orbit

South Australia’s space sector hit a major milestone after Kanyini, the first state owned and manufactured satellite, was put into low Earth orbit. See the video.

Kanyini was successfully launched on-board SpaceX's Transporter-11 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California USA. Picture: Facebook

South Australia’s first state-owned satellite has successfully launched into space on-board a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Manufactured locally by SA based companies SmartSat CRC, Inovor Technologies and Myriota, the satellite’s $6.5 million mission represents the culmination of three years work.

Safely in orbit, engineers will now attempt to establish a stable connection with Kanyini, through the satelite’s operations centre – located at Inovor Technologies within Lot Fourteen.

SmartSat CRC chief executive Andy Koronios said Kanyini’s launch represented a major milestone and highlighted South Australia’s growing space capabilities.

“We have now realised our mission of seeing homegrown South Australian space technologies launched into low Earth orbit,” he said.

“The coming months will be crucial as the team works to fully operationalise Kanyini and begin reaping the benefits of its data-gathering capabilities.”

Kanyini is set to provide critical climate and sustainability data to both the Australian government and research institutions through a number of research initiatives.

Engineers will now try to establish a secure connection to the satellite before it begins sending critical climate and sustainability data for a number of research projects. Picture: Facebook

This includes an early bushfire detection program, with the potential to spot fires from space 500 times faster than traditional techniques.

The satellite will also help support a government program to map urban heat islands throughout the state.

Data collected by Kanyini will also be used by Queensland University of Technology and the European Space Agency’s Phi-Lab to develop predictive AI capabilities, to try and accurately forecast natural disasters.