Defence has cancelled Joint Project 9102 Ph.1, the $6.9 billion Australian Defence Satellite Communications System…
Ten companies to share $40 million Moon to Mars Initiative Demonstrator funding
The Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) has awarded 10 Australian space projects grant funding worth nearly $40 million in total. The funding falls under the Demonstrator Program of the Australian Space Agency’s Moon to Mars initiative and will help companies get their technologies ready for space – in some cases establishing vital flight heritage.
The Head of the Australian Space Agency, Enrico Palermo, said these investments will position Australian space companies to be part of future global space missions.
“These space projects will make a big impact, including to NASA’s Artemis Program. They will develop capability and experience in mission launch and space operation activities,” he said.
“The recipients cover many critical technology fields, such as helping to address global challenges like climate change, to enhancing sectors like agriculture, resources, transport and defence.”
The successful projects encourage collaboration by bringing together industry and researchers, he added.
“By helping Australian organisations to develop their space heritage, they can break into new markets and supply chains and take their innovative Aussie technology to the world.”
The Demonstrator Mission Grants will leverage more than $15 million in contributions from industry, academia and state and territory governments.
Moon to Mars Initiative Demonstrator Mission Grants – grant recipients:
| Recipient organisation | Project title | Project information | Grant amount (excluding GST) | |
| Advanced Navigation Pty. Ltd. | Project LUNA – Navigation and Guidance Technology for Lunar Exploration | Project LUNA (Laser measurement Unit for Navigational Aid) will demonstrate the performance and capability of the mature Australian LiDAV technology, opening doors to integrate the technology to space transportation, infrastructure, and operations service providers. | $5,272,805 | |
| Australian National University | Laser Technology for the next GRACE mission | This project will produce laser stabilization flight technology for next generation gravity sensing missions. It extends the successful collaboration on the GRACE Follow-On mission to develop space flight technology for the next GRACE missions. | $6,205,670 | |
| Australian National University | Australian Deep Space Optical Ground Station Network | In this project, an ANU-led consortium with partners Liquid Instruments, Platypus Instruments and SSC Australia will establish the first Australian deep space communication-capable optical ground station by upgrading the ANU optical ground station (OGS) to be compatible with NASA’s Optical to Orion (O2O) mission. | $4,504,007 | |
| Enable Aerospace Pty. Ltd. | Universal Payload Racking System Flight Qualification and Demonstration | The key project activities are to finalise the Universal Payload Racking System (UPRS) designs, engage the Australian supply chain to produce Flight hardware, complete Qualification testing of hardware for human-rated space flight and to flight demonstrate the UPRS to Sierra Space and potential customers. | $2,777,423 | |
| Fleet Space Technologies Pty Ltd | Seismic Payload for Interplanetary Discovery, Exploration and Research | Fleet will deploy a miniature three component seismic station on the lunar surface to record continuous seismic data for up to 14-days. Fleet’s device will be launched on board a commercial lander with the intention to land on the lunar surface within the Schrodinger Crater. | $3,916,490 | |
| Lunaria One Pty Ltd | Australian Lunar Experiment Promoting Horticulture (ALEPH) | The ALEPH project, 2022-2026 will demonstrate the design, build and test of two ALEPH-1 EM and FM versions and delivery of an engineering model (EM) space qualified flight model (FM) to the spacecraft integrator. | $3,617,564 | |
| QuantX Labs Pty Ltd | KAIROS-1: Space Clock Technology Demonstrator | The Kairos-1 Mission will build a next-generation atomic clock and place it in orbit. To de-risk this ambitious plan, QuantX will conduct two other earlier launches to demonstrate space operation of key components of the atomic clock. | $3,725,160 | |
| Raytracer Pty Ltd | Command and Control for On-orbit Servicing, Assembly & Manufacturing Vehicles | In 2024, Raytracer will partner with Optus to launch their CARBON command-and-control software on an Optus led, world-first On-orbit Servicing, Assembly & Manufacturing (OSAM) mission. | $2,888,655 | |
| University of Melbourne | SpIRIT satellite operations: An Australian path to exploration beyond Earth | This project supports in-orbit operations of the SpIRIT satellite, a spacecraft developed as the first mission funded by the Australian Space Agency and ready to fly by end of 2023. The first platform of Inovor Technologies and a Neumann Space thruster will be commissioned and operated in space. | $2,656,305 | |
| University of Western Australia | Establishing a Commercial Optical Communications Ground Station Network | This project will establish ‘TeraNet’, a three-node commercial optical communications ground station network in Australia to support Low Earth Orbit (LEO) communications using the ‘O3K’ standard. | $4,403,973 |
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