Through a diverse and dynamic range of channels, we bring all the latest news, events, and updates from InSpace right to your fingertips.
Opportunities for Australian Space Leadership, Delivered by Professor Anna Moore FTSE
There are five challenges we need to talk about now that will shape the way we think about and act upon future opportunities for the Australian space sector.
ANU InSpace Director, Professor Anna Moore FTSE, highlighted them all in a passionate talk at Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA) Southern Space 2024 this past week.
This is Professor Moore's full speech, with an introduction and all five challenges.
ANU Quantum Optical Ground Station Build Timelapse
The Australian National University launched the Quantum Optical Ground Station (QOGS), a first for Australia, in December 2023. The QOGS is equipped with advanced instrumentation including adaptive optics and quantum technology to enable high performance communication with enhanced security. ANU technology enables communication links in challenging environments for a range of mission scenarios from LEO and GEO to lunar and deep space. This will enhance system-wide resilience by augmenting existing telecommunication infrastructure. The facility is up and running, with the ability to host hardware for research or commercial application.
With its quantum capability this ground station will also provide the underlying infrastructure to connect quantum devices and establish a quantum internet for improved computation, sensing accuracy, and provably secure communications. Upgrades are already underway to enable communication to Lunar distances, with other more advanced communication techniques also in the works.
See the ANU Quantum Optical Ground Station being built in less than a minute!
The ANU Quantum Optical Ground Station is supported by funding from the ACT Government, with additional support from the Australian Space Agency, CSIRO, and the ANU Institute for Space | InSpace.
2023 ANU InSpace Media Wrap Up
It’s been a big year for ANU InSpace! We hosted and attended over two dozen meetings, events, and conferences. We networked with hundreds of people involved in the space sector from academia, industry, government, and the community. We welcomed three new Business Development Managers onto our team. We won awards and honours and continued our commitment to be leading advocates for space research.
Three of our flagship missions took off: the Quantum Optical Ground Station opened to great fanfare in December, our Associate Director Dr. Cassandra Steer and her team launched the Australian Centre for Space Governance as its own entity, and the National Space Qualification Network (NSQN) cemented its position as a leading space testing organisation with a thriving community and celebrated the opening of the new space irradiation beamline at the Heavy Ion Accelerators Facility.
But this is just the beginning. There’s so much on the horizon for ANU InSpace and for the space industry. Here’s to everything 2023 brought us and to everything yet to come.
Orion touches down back on earth
What a phenomenal ten days it has been following Artemis II's journey, with the crew travelling further than any human has ever travelled, just incredible.
We're received video from Artemis II via optical communications!
The optical communications system on Artemis II is performing exceptionally well and proving its utility with over 100Gb of data downlinked so far including high resolution imagery and video! NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration - is now looking to increase the data rate to 100Mbps to allow as much data as possible to be relayed back during the mission. This system highlights the benefit of optical communications for future missions to the moon and beyond as operations become more complex.
We have lift off!
We have lift off! Today is an historic moment for the world and a landmark moment for Australia as The Australian National University (ANU) partners with NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration as it sends astronauts back to the moon as part of the 10-day Artemis II mission – the space agency’s first crewed mission beyond Earth’s orbit in more than 50 years.