Space Connect Podcast

Dr Scott Sleap is a veteran STEM educator and space luminary who recently returned from a fellowship program in the US, where he visited aerospace sites such as NASA, Boeing, and the Smithsonian. He believes Australia is in need of a National Space and Deep Tech Centre to boost our sovereign space capabilities and help our domestic space industry compete on the global stage. Scott speaks to the Sp...

In 2003, regularly updated maps of recently burnt areas of our bush were uploaded onto a website hosted by Charles Darwin University, known as the North Australian Fire Information service, or NAFI.  Twenty years on, NAFI's maps of active fires and burnt areas underpin fire management across northern Australia. The maps are used for planning, response, implementation, and reporting. This week, Roh...

Researchers using the 36-dish ASKAP telescope have made a discovery that challenges the hypothesis around how "fast radio bursts" form. Fast radio bursts are intense bursts of radio emission that can last just milliseconds and were only first detected in 2007. The exact processes that cause them have long been shrouded in mystery. Traditionally, they have only been recorded in colliding galaxies,...

The Australian Space Awards 2023 was the biggest in the event's history. In this episode, two of the nominees from KBR join host Adam Thorn to discuss their progress in the sector. Ben Wanders was nominated for Graduate of the Year for his work investigating space supply chains, while Lauren Hassall got the nod for Best Engineer for her work supporting a human spaceflight study with the ASA. The p...

LeoLabs Australia is best known for its pioneering work tracking tens of thousands of satellites in low-Earth orbit. In this episode, the company's president and managing director, Terry van Haren, discusses its recently opened West Australian Space Radar (WASR), which monitors 80 per cent of LEO traffic. He tells host Adam Thorn why giving everyone, not just governments, access to space situation...

The Waratah Seed consortium is an industry-spanning effort that aims to make space more accessible by offering opportunities for organisations to put their innovations into space.  It hopes to unite businesses, academic institutions, and the government.  In this episode, two of its leading figures, Professor Iver Cairns and Dr Tim Parsons, talk through how it came about and what innovations its wi...

Dr Rodrigo Praino is an associate professor of politics and public policy at Flinders University.   In a new book, Dr Praino says the race between countries to settle on the moon and Mars is also a race to gain power in space.   In this episode, he tells host Adam Thorn why we need to build better communication between the major powers of the US, China, and Russia to avoid future conflict.   Plus,...

In this episode, host Adam Thorn is joined by Monash University's  Christopher Lawrence. In March, Space Connect reported how the university partnered with the ASA to give Indigenous STEM students the opportunity to intern at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Launched in Adelaide as part of NASA administrator Bill Nelson's visit to Australia, the National Indigenous Space Academy (NI...

More satellites than ever are being launched globally — but their reflections threaten to stop us from seeing many of our stars at night.  University of Southern Queensland PhD student Jessica Heim was part of a team that studied the issue and compiled new evidence that quantifies the extent of the problem. In this episode, she tells host Adam Thorn what can be done to solve the problem and its th...

Adelaide-based Neumann Space is pioneering a range of new technologies, including using electric, rather than chemical, propulsion for spacecraft. The business believes its "Neumann Drive" has the potential to change the game by making propulsion simpler and paving the way for tech that could effectively "refuel" satellites in space, alongside making deorbiting easier. In this episode, CEO Herve A...

Air Vice-Marshal Paul Godfrey is a British RAF fighter pilot who rose up the ranks to head the country's first military Space Command. In this special interview from the Avalon Airshow, AVM Godfrey tells Adam Thorn how he made the transition from the skies to the stars. The pair discuss the challenges and opportunities of creating a military space division, why it's important for the UK and Austra...

Dr Cassandra Steer is a mission specialist at ANU and a lecturer specialising in space law, space security, and international law.   She has over a decade of international experience teaching at universities in Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.   Ahead of her appearance at the Australian Space Summit, Dr Steer discusses the emerging sector of space law and the weaponisation of s...

Dr Hugh Mortimer is a planetary scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, the largest space science department in Europe. However, he's also moonlighted as an adviser on major arts projects and movies involving space, including Ridley Scott's  Prometheus . In this special episode recorded in the UK, Dr Mortimer talks about the importance of using arts to encourage the next generation to con...

In this episode of the Space Connect podcast, David Ball, regional director of space for Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand, and Dr Martine Woolf, branch head, Positioning Australia branch, space division at Geoscience Australia, discuss Satellite-based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) and the organisations' ongoing collaboration on SouthPAN. The trio begin the podcast defining what Satellite-ba...

In this episode of the Space Connect podcast, Professor Peter Moar, head of Space Instrumentation Engineering Group at Swinburne University, unpacks Swinburne's recent DESIS mission in collaboration with the German Aerospace Centre, and discusses Swinburne's upcoming Space Industry Supply Chain Readiness Course. The pair begin the podcast discussing the DESIS mission, and future applications of th...

To further our knowledge of space and Earth, we need to both create new technologies but also use our existing ones in innovative, new ways. In this episode, Western Sydney University's Gregory Cohen explains the concept behind neuromorphic systems — tech that mimics the human brain. Cohen is one of Australia's most esteemed space researchers and was nominated for Academic of the Year at our Austr...

In this episode of the Space Connect Podcast, Professor Russell Boyce, chairman for Intelligent Space Systems and director of UNSW Canberra Space, joins host Liam Garman to unpack the breadth of UNSW Canberra Space's mission — from the M2 Pathfinder through to space ethics — and discuss the future of the Australian space industry. The pair begin the podcast discussing Professor Boyce's history in...

In January, Skykraft launched the first of five satellites as part of a planned 200-strong constellation, the biggest of its kind in Australia. Weighing in at over 300 kilograms each, they are also the largest Australian-designed and made objects that have ever been launched into space. On this episode, the business' CEO, Dr Michael Frater, tells host Liam McAneny how the firm did it, and how the...

Adam Thorn and Liam McAneny wrap up the space news year in review in this episode of the Space Connect Podcast. They cover the incredibly expensive and significantly delayed development of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) from its inception in the 1990s. They hone in on the groundbreaking launch of the JWST and look at what it might mean for future discoveries about the universe. Adam and Lia...

Adam Thorn and Liam McAneny continue their recap of the biggest stories of the year, this time focusing on the biggest launch developments across the world. They cover the Artemis launch aboard the Space Launch System rocket and discuss what this means for space exploration going forward. They also check in with the Australian space launch industry, looking at the most important events that occurr...

In this special episode of the Space Connect Podcast, shadow minister for cyber security and shadow minister for countering foreign interference, Senator James Paterson joins Phil Tarrant (director - Momentum Media) and MAJGEN (retired) Dr Marcus Thompson to discuss the regulatory impediments preventing Australia from becoming a leader in cyber security. The group begins the podcast discussing the...

Adam Thorn and Liam McAneny recap the year's biggest space news stories. The pair start off with a look back at the now infamous "space junk" saga that saw pieces of a SpaceX Dragon capsule land on farmers' properties in the Snowy Mountains in NSW. The event made global headlines, and drew comment from the Australian Space Agency, SpaceX and even the UN. Listen in as they go through the events fro...

Hiranya Jayakody, the current chief technical officer and co-founder of HEO Robotics, speaks to host Liam McAneny about the company's work on satellite imaging in space. They discuss the various functions of HEO Robotics' imaging software, HEO Inspect, and how it helps satellite owners monitor their assets in space. The pair touches on the unique challenges of satellite imaging from other orbiting...

John Culton is an associate professor and director of the University of Adelaide's Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources. The centre has positioned itself as a focal point in Australia for some of the most exciting future-facing space endeavours and ideas. Recently, it hosted the first Australian interdisciplinary university space course with experts from all around the world attending to speak o...

Tara Murphy, a professor at the University of Sydney, speaks to host Liam McAneny about her work in radio astronomy and her participation in the new  Art + Information  production. The pair discuss what the daily work of an astronomer looks like and the kinds of challenges that come with that. They explore some of Professor Murphy's research on gravitational waves, gamma ray bursts, supernovae and...