Fleet Space Technologies to launch first commercial CubeSat within weeks
A SURPRISE announcement today will show how quickly technology from a shipping container in Beverley can be launched into space.
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A SURPRISE announcement today will show how quickly technology, formulised from a shipping container in Beverley, can be blasted into space.
Adelaide’s Fleet Space Technologies is set to launch Australia’s first commercial CubeSat — a small satellite — within weeks.
The space company was in the process of sending two nanosatellites into orbit by the end of the year, but after a deal with US launch provider Rocket Lab it will beat its own deadline.
It will launch the first two of what will eventually be a constellation of 100 low-earth small satellites.
That constellation will power the “Internet of Things,” connecting millions of devices in rural and remote Australia where there are no cellular networks.
Rocket Lab will launch the two satellites (Proxima I and Proxima II) from its complex on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.
Fleet is still planning to launch two more satellites, Centauri I and Centauri II, by the end of the year.
Chief executive Flavia Tata Nardini said Australia’s fledgling space industry needed rapid turnaround times.
“We decided to build and launch two more satellites over the past few months and Rocket Lab has moved at the speed of light to incorporate them in this mission, assist us with licensing and complete integration in record time,” she said.
“We will be in space less than a few months after making the decision to join the mission.” Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck said the swift progress of the project was necessary to get space-based assets up and working as soon as possible.
“We’re proud to offer a rapid and agile approach to launching small satellites — one that sees customers like Fleet join a manifest and be … ready for launch in just weeks, not months or years,” he said.
Australia’s new space agency is due to decide by the end of the year where it will be based, with SA a strong contender for a base.
Yesterday, the Federal Government approved the Australian Space Agency’s charter, the initial focus of which is establishing an advisory board.
Meanwhile, scholarships worth $13,500 are now open to South Australian students to be part of a five-week summer school program, hosted by the SA Space Industry Centre at the University of SA.