One hundred kilometres east of Geraldton, against the red dirt backdrop of the outback, a West Australian family is going about their daily lives while quietly preparing to be a part of moon-landing history.
Soon, the Teale family property will become home to one of three 20-metre antennas placed around the world providing 24/7 communications with NASA’s Artemis mission to send astronauts to the moon.
From dust to dust, WA to the moon, space exploration history is being made in the Wheatbelt.Credit: Angela Teale
In late 2022, Artemis I, an uncrewed test flight, orbited and flew beyond the moon.
Artemis II will see a crewed flight take humans the furthest they’ve ever been in space, and Artemis III will be the first crewed moon landing mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Last week, the Norwegian ground station company Kongsberg Satellites Services announced it had chosen to collaborate with Geraldton local Peter Teale’s start-up business Starsite to host, maintain and operate a new lunar communications site in the Wheatbelt.
The 40-year-old, along with wife Angela Teale, who is also the head engineer of the world’s largest telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA)– also partially located in the Wheatbelt – said it was a momentous moment for the small town.
“I’m extremely humbled, and I just have to pinch myself to be given the opportunity to support such a project,” Peter said.
After being made redundant from Woodside in 2020, and with a promise to never work FIFO again, Peter risked everything to start his own ground station hosting company from a small room off the back of his house.
“I had many sleepless nights, I had so many obstacles, I had people tell me, ‘give up you’re not going to be able to achieve it’,” he said.
“This will effectively not only change my life, not only my family’s, but it is now going to be based in regional Western Australia, where it’s going to truly impact the people in the area.
Self-confessed quiet achievers Peter and Angela Teale became local celebrities at the Indo-Pacific Space Earth Conference in Perth last week.Credit: Peter Teale
“Folks here will be able to walk out of their house, and see this antenna and say, one day, I could actually still live in this town and also work for NASA.”
Half a century ago, the isolated Carnarvon Tracking Station played an integral role in the Apollo 11 mission that put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, bringing educational and employment opportunities to the region.
In parallel circumstances, this next WA space frontier will also come with community building opportunities.
Peter intends to continue working on partnerships Angela helped build with the Wajarri Yamaji Traditional Owners and native titleholders of the SKA observatory site to include the local elders in this new project.
“Reach for the moon, but keep your feet grounded, as true success in space begins with humility on Earth.”
“Let’s get rid of that stigma of the next ‘man’ on the moon, let’s put the first person back on the moon, if that can be a woman, that would be amazing, if it could be a First Nations Australian person, that would be really, really cool,” he said.
Growing up with ADHD, Peter said he is also proud to show other young people struggling with neurodiversity that opportunities exist for anyone willing to have a go.
KSAT announced the partnership with Starsite at the 30th Indo-Pacific Space and Earth Conference held in Perth last week
KSAT ground network executive vice president Marte Indregard said Starsite’s extensive space industry knowledge, their local knowledge and willingness to “go the extra mile” had impressed the company.
Peter Teale was invited to Earth’s most northern town, Svalbard, by KSAT Lunar senior project manager Kjetil Slettnes.Credit: Peter Teale
In addition to its strategic positioning – the third point of contact between two other antennas in New Mexico and Spain – the area boasts resilient infrastructure, with reliable power and fibre connectivity to support critical lunar and satellite operations
The entire project has been self-funded by the Teales, with Peter working on Starsite as a second job until 2am most mornings.
“For my wife to be able to support me through that and to be able to help me through engineering and technical questions, she’s an absolute space genius, she’s been my absolute rock and my inspiration,” he said.
“We’re a startup company, we leveraged absolutely every single penny – I would love to see the government really invest into companies like us.”
NASA’s Artemis campaign aims to explore the moon for scientific discovery, technology advancement, and to learn how to live and work on another world in preparation for human missions to Mars.
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