Industry backing for large satellite manufacturing

A $71 million investment will go ahead to establish a genuinely Australian-owned Satellite Manufacturing Hub in New South Wales.

The facility will be Australia’s first commercial hub for larger satellites up to 500kg in weight, able to carry advanced optical instruments, and focused on building Earth observation satellites.

A collaborative venture with government and leading industry and academic partners, the facility aligns with the Australian Space Agency’s earth observation from space roadmap.

The project, backed by the Modern Manufacturing Initiative will involve Australian owned defence and communications contractor Electro Optic Systems, engineering services group Nova Systems Australia and New Zealand, rocket builder Gilmour Space Technologies as well as UTS Tech Lab, and the federal and NSW governments.

The facility will be located at South Jerrabomberra in NSW.

As well as providing secure R&D facilities, the facility will handle the design, prototyping, manufacturing, integration and testing of large satellites and payloads.

CEO for EOS Space Systems Glen Tindall said: “This new collaborative manufacturing capability fills recognised gaps in Australia’s current space manufacturing landscape by enabling the local development of large, high-quality, reliable spacecraft and payloads, capable of fulfilling complex missions which deliver national economic benefit.”

The first block of SpaceLink satellites will be built overseas, the facility will provide partial or complete satellites for future SpaceLink blocks.

The project is estimated to generate 125 direct full-time, high-skilled jobs.

SpaceLink is a global system of orbiting satellites which relay data from small satellites in low Earth orbits, increasing communications speeds.

Picture: Electro Optic Systems

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