Australia’s largest privately built satellite is ready for launch on a SpaceX mission next month. Built by Sydney startup Space Machines Company, the satellite will carry tech and payloads from the growing local sector and hopes to prove the industry can become much more sustainable.
The Optimus satellite will offer on-orbit satellite inspection, servicing and protection that keeps other satellites in space longer in what is touted as ‘roadside assistance’ for space.
It is designed and built by Australian teams in Sydney and Adelaide, with assistance from a team in Bangalore, and represents another milestone for the Australian space sector, with several local companies joining the Optimus mission.
The Optimus Orbital Servicing Vehicle (OSV) will be the first the first Australian commercial satellite capable of providing existing space infrastructure and satellites with life-extension services, inspections and assistance on-orbit.
The company is touting its OSVs as a way to help clean up an increasingly cluttered earth orbit by prolonging the life of satellites, reduce space debris and scaling infrastructure.
Satellites face high failure rates to even make it to space and are typically designed for only a single purpose when they get there.
This needs to change to reduce expensive waste and to provide more scalable infrastructure needed for more far reaching space missions, according to Space Machines Company.
The privately backed company operates out of the University of Technology Sydney’s Botany Tech Lab, where it manufactures OSVs.
When it launches next month it will carry technology and payloads of Australian partners and customers.
Fellow Australian startup Advanced Navigation is contributing its inertial navigation systems, while global on-orbit refuelling supplier Orbit Fab will supply position and orientation data.
The Optimus mission is the culmination of years of work and close collaboration with international and local scientists and engineers, Space Machines Company chief executive Rajat Kulshrestha said.
“This unprecedented alliance has enabled us to push boundaries and open up new possibilities for how satellites are launched and operated. Together, we are paving the way to provide innovative services that extend satellite lifetimes, reduce space debris, and sustainably scale space activities for the benefit of all,” he said.
Several other Sydney space companies are joining the Optimus mission.
Space imaging and analytics firms HEO Robotics and Esper will send its cameras up, while Spiral Blue and Dandelions processors will also be part of the local payload.
Space Machines’ Optimus will launch as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-10 mission no earlier than March 2024 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California
