South Australian space start-up Paladin Space is one step closer to developing a game-changing space debris remover, thanks to a significant South Australian Government funding boost.
The company recently secured a $100,000 Seed-Start grant through the South Australian Government’s Research and Innovation Fund. The grant will accelerate the development of its revolutionary space technology that aims to reduce the risk of debris damaging or destroying orbiting satellites and spacecraft.
Paladin Space founder and CEO, Harrison Box, said the grant will help the company harness artificial intelligence to identify space debris and refine the technology, with plans to unveil a prototype by mid-2025.
“Our Seed-Start grant will help us explore new image processing techniques with support from the Australian Institute for Machine Learning, refine our novel capture design technology, and demonstrate our debris removal capability on a global stage,” Mr Box said.
Currently there is an estimated 9,000 metric tons of space debris, such as defunct satellites and rocket parts, orbiting Earth, travelling at speeds of 27,000 kilometres per hour, which is posing a risk to the long-term safety of space activities.
“Paladin Space is getting on the front-foot of this growing issue by developing new methods and tech that focus on capturing and removing these smaller pieces of debris,” Mr Box said.
A graduate of the University of South Australia’s Venture Catalyst Space Program, Mr Box’s innovative technology has captured the attention of local and international investors and space organisations. In addition to the Seed-Start grant, the start-up recently secured a $500k investment from Main Sequence Ventures, a leading space technology investor in Australia.
Mr Box said the Paladin Space will leverage Main Sequence’s expertise in deep tech and strategic links to research institutions to accelerate the development and commercialisation of the debris removal technology.
“We also aim to capitalise on South Australia’s growing space sector by working with local space companies to continue our product development, and eventually lead an in-orbit technology demonstrator mission which could lead to multi-million-dollar investments, new jobs and a dedicated space manufacturing site,” he said.
Seed-Start provides grant funding for high-growth potential businesses. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Visit the Department of State Development for more information.
