The Optimus OTV is scheduled to be launched by SpaceX in 2024. Photo: Space Machines Company.
Australian-based international space services firm Space Machines Company will expand its Adelaide-based mission command centre through 10 new engineering and support staff.
Announced in Bengaluru during a technologies roundtable hosted by state Trade and Investment Minister Nick Champion during his visit to India, the expansion will grow the company’s footprint as the collaboration in space between South Australia and India expands.
Based in the Lot Fourteen technology hub on Adelaide’s North Terrace, the mission command centre will play a key role in the command and control of Australia’s biggest satellite, the 270 kg Optimus Orbital Transfer Vehicle, which is scheduled to be launched by SpaceX in 2024.
The Government said the prospect of a greater partnership between South Australia’s space industry and the Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) followed recent announcements that India would place a space station into orbit by 2035 and send an astronaut to the moon by 2040. Isro also recently became the first space agency from any country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon’s South Pole.
Minister Champion said Space Machines Company’s expansion in Adelaide was an excellent example of a global company recognising the strategic advantage of investing in South Australia.
“The space sector provides a unique opportunity for enhanced South Australian and Indian collaboration in our region, with benefits from innovation set to benefit a range of sectors from disaster and climate responses, water management, agriculture, along with defence and communications.
“Our State’s young people will grow up knowing there are a growing number of jobs in the space and defence industry right here in their home state,” he said.
Space Machines Company CEO co-founder Rajat Kulshrestha added, “South Australia’s rise as a leading centre for space research and innovation makes it the perfect choice for establishing our operations in Adelaide.
“The SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre, Australia’s largest collaborative initiative in the space industry, affords us unparalleled opportunities for engagement with leading universities, esteemed global space enterprises, dynamic SMEs, and visionary start-ups.
“We are committed to further expanding our footprint in South Australia, with eager anticipation of the enhanced avenues for collaboration this creates, not only within our local team but also with our colleagues in India.”
