Stephen Mullighan MP
Treasurer
Minister for Defence & Space Industries
A system that could help locate and rescue astronauts stranded in remote areas on the moon, and a spacecraft with world-leading AI capabilities, developed right here in South Australia, will be backed by State Government funding.
The two South Australian start-ups behind the innovations – Safety from Space and AICRAFT – have each secured $100,000 in funding from the inaugural South Australian Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund.
Safety from Space will receive funding for its Lunar Search and Rescue (LunaSAR) project. This will trial advanced satellite communications (SATCOM) capabilities for future astronaut search and rescue operations on the surface of the Moon.
A collaboration with NASA, the US and the Australian arm of The Mars Society, along with a collective of Australian partners including SmartSat CRC, UniSA and Flinders University, this will be an Australian-first field trial of lunar distress beacons.
The trial ‘LunaSAR’ system aims to provide a lighter weight, longer battery life radio beacon with greater reliability than current devices.
A successful trial could pave the way for a unique Australian contribution into NASA’s Artemis Program, and emergency communication applications closer to home, operating without reliance on local network infrastructure.
AICRAFT’s ‘Leoflect’ project will create a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload – a type of radar used to create detailed images of the Earth’s surface – that will be lighter and smaller than others on the market.
It will use advanced AI models to deliver power-efficient, high-speed data processing and analysis on orbit – a solution that is years ahead of existing technologies.
A partnership with India’s Guerin Technologies, the project will significantly enhance available SAR satellite capabilities.
Launched earlier this year, the South Australian Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund is designed to accelerate the development of local space innovations and collaboration with international partners.
Details on the next round of funding will be announced in coming months. Interested parties can learn more about the successful projects at sasic.sa.gov.au/space-fund
Quotes attributable to Stephen Mullighan
Our Government is a proud supporter of the local space industry and these grants will help accelerate the development of advanced technologies and strengthen international partnerships.
AICRAFT’s collaboration with Guerin Technologies and Safety from Space’s collaboration with NASA are prime examples of how our state is leading in space innovation and will have a significant impact on global space technology.
South Australia is home to a long list of innovative projects that are driving economic benefits for our state and reinforce our position as a leader in the Defence and Space sectors.
Quotes attributable to at AICRAFT chief executive officer Tony Scoleri
We have developed strong relationships with the Indian space ecosystem and are thrilled to partner with Guerin Technologies on our ‘Leoflect’ project to harness the innovation in both our companies and deliver the most compact SAR antenna and most compact, low-power onboard computer on the market.
SAR data is critically important and can be used in applications such as agriculture, forestry, glacier monitoring, maritime surveillance and Defence intelligence.
We are grateful to the South Australian Government for this funding support, which will make it possible for us to deliver world-class technology with rapid speed, bringing down the cost of, and access to, critically important SAR data.
Quotes attributable to Safety from Space founder Mark Rice
Ensuring the safe return of astronauts in the event of an emergency is critical to interplanetary exploration, and we are passionate to see our breakthrough communications technology playing a pivotal role.
Our collaboration with NASA has put Australia at the forefront of two-way communications for search and rescue, and we are extremely grateful for the funding from the South Australian Government to make it possible.
