State funding set to boost Curtin’s homegrown space program with QTX Alumni - Binar
Vice-Chancellor Professor John Cordery, Minister Dave Kelly, SSTC Deputy Director Renae Sayers, DVCR Professor Chris Moran and SSTC Director Professor Phil Bland
Curtin University’s bid to launch miniature spacecraft for deep space missions is one step closer after a $500,000 investment by the Western Australian State Government.
Curtin’s Space Science Technology Centre (SSTC) has been awarded the funding to support its Binar Space Program (‘Binar’ being the Nyungar word for fireball or shooting star). The spacecraft technology, conceived in WA by Curtin’s SSTC is an innovative highly integrated unit, with all spacecraft systems on a single circuit board, making it significantly more cost effective solution than that offered by other manufacturers.
WA Minister for Science, the Hon Dave Kelly MLA made the grant announcement this morning, as part of the State Government’s commitment to maximising benefits for the State through research, job creation, diversification of the economy and innovation.
Funding will be used to employ engineers to support the scheduled launch of five Binar CubeSats to space in 2021-2022. If all five launches are successful, they will be Australia’s first home grown constellation of satellites in space.
SSTC Director, John Curtin Distinguished Professor Phil Bland, said the funding will help the Binar Program achieve its true potential.
“Easy access to space isn’t just about lower launch costs. It’s great that you can now put a satellite into orbit for $100k. But that’s not much help if even the smallest spacecraft costs millions. It is our goal to remove that hurdle,” Professor Bland said.
“Universities are the crucibles of innovation. They’re training the next generation of scientists and engineers for a future space workforce. We want to help them innovate and train those students by providing them with a cost-effective platform, allowing for an agile fast-fail approach to payload development. Researchers will be able to rapidly iterate technologies in orbit, developing solutions that can help Australians, and Australian industry, whether that’s fighting bushfires or tracking groundwater.
“For us, we’re also planetary scientists and every success in Earth’s orbit allows us to iterate our technology, getting us closer to our goal of a WA mission to the Moon, and beyond.”
The Binar space technology platform has the potential to be Australia’s sovereign cubesat solution, said Samuel Forbes from Fugro Australia, Director of the Australian Space Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Control Complex (SpAARC). Read full media release on Curtin Website
ICT Minister Dave Kelly: "The Binar CubeSat technology is set to become Australia's most validated spacecraft, boosting WA's burgeoning space industry." The Ministers Announcement
Phil Bland: Director at Space Science and Technology Centre at Curtin University
Thanks so much to the Government of Western Australia for their investment in Curtin's Binar Space Program, and to our partners - Fugro and AROSE. Space Science and Technology Centre at Curtin University is flying 5 spacecraft over the next 18 months. With the support of the Government of Western Australia and our partners we can achieve our vision of a WA space program, and bring the excitement of it to the WA public.