(The below article was written by the Australian Space Agency and featured on their LinkedIn profile.)

Projects In Action: National Space Qualification Network – ANU National Space Test Facility

When companies launch advanced technology into orbit, you might wonder: how can they be sure it’ll work when it gets up there and experiences space for the first time?

Well, The Australian National University has thought about exactly that – and created the National Space Test Facility (NSTF) in Mount Stromlo, near Canberra. With an internationally recognised team, the NTSF conducts research and severe space environmental testing of satellites, payloads, subsystems, and components for major space missions. In the last four years, 19 spacecraft from Australia and New Zealand have launched into orbit after qualification at the NSTF.

The facility is a key national space asset, and we’ve invested in its comprehensive set of testing capabilities through our funding programs. The NSTF’s centrepiece is its vacuum chamber – a 3m diameter cylinder which simulates the airlessness of space for whatever’s sitting inside. During vacuum tests, an infrared thermal imaging system shows how space conditions affect the test subject’s temperature, while a Quartz Crystal Microbalance system checks that the release of gases meets stringent contamination standards. Outside the chamber, another handy apparatus is the pyroshock test facility, which simulates the intense stress waves experienced by spacecraft during launch and separation.

The NSTF is also one of 8 nodes in the Agency-supported National Space Qualification Network (NSQN), a wider group of Australian testing capabilities provided by the ANU Institute for Space | InSpace, ANSTO, Steritech Australia, the University of WollongongCentre for Medical Radiation Physics, Saber Astronautics, Nova Systems Australia and New Zealand, and Heavy Ion Accelerators. Find out how the NSQN makes it easier and more affordable for Australian industry and our regional neighbours to qualify their space products at https://nsqn.org/ 🛰️