PhosEnergy to develop nuclear space batteries

Adelaide-based green-energy technology company PhosEnergy and the University of Adelaide are developing next-generation nuclear batteries for space and defence industries. PhosEnergy, which develops technology for recovering useful energy resources and chemicals from wastes, have been awarded a grant of more than $2.4 million to support the project under the Federal Government’s Cooperative Research Centre’s Projects…

Schneider Electric buys transformer monitoring start up

French manufacturer Schneider Electric has bought a Brisbane startup company founded on University of Queensland technology to monitor the health of electricity network transformers. Schneider Electric, which manufactures Clipsal electrical equipment in Adelaide, has bought Aurtra which develops remote industrial sensors to monitor ageing transformers using technology designed at the university’s School of Information Technology…

SMEs team up to deliver Earth observation microsatellites

Rocket manufacturer Gilmour Space Technologies and Perth Earth observation and data fusion specialist LatConnect 60 (LC60) have teamed up to build and launch the first microsatellite in a planned high-resolution hyperspectral imaging constellation. The smart satellites making up the HyperSight 60 constellation will be placed in 30-degree inclined orbits to provide ‘frequent revisit data capture’…

Toolcraft and Mitchell & Cheesman merge for defence

Two South Australian defence suppliers are joining forces to offer a comprehensive suite of integrated design and engineering services for a range of customers, including defence. Complex mechanical system integration specialist Toolcraft Australia and flexible manufacturing solutions provider Mitchell & Cheesman have merged to deliver significantly expanded advanced manufacturing and technology development capabilities. Established in…

Let’s start EV manufacturing with the Nissan Leaf – by Shane West

Nissan Australia’s Dandenong South casting plant in Victoria recently won a series of manufacturing contracts with Nissan Japan to produce castings for the new Nissan LEAF mass-market all-electric car. Here Shane West outlines how Nissan’s footprint in Australia and Nissan’s overseas manufacture of the Leaf can kick-start EV manufacturing in Australia. The Nissan Leaf casting…

Canberra puts foreign companies at head of multi-billion missile programme

By Peter Roberts The federal government has selected foreign defence contractors and allocated a supporting role to two genuinely Australian consortia in accelerating the rollout of ‘sovereign’ guided weapons capabilities. Minister for defence Peter Dutton announced a $3.5 billion investment in speeding delivery of new missile capabilities for the Royal Australian Air Force and the…