Astrix Astronautics

Was great to be part of a session at #CubeSatPlus this week, talking about New Zealand’s space sector. Our own Dimitri Geidelberg dialled in from across the ditch while Sarah Kessans from University of Canterbury, Vernon Lewis from Te Pūnaha Ātea - Space Institute and William Hunter from Astrix Astronautics attended in-person. Thanks for the opportunity Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER), UNSW Sydney. We look forward to building on our trans-Tasman connection.

I will be presenting on inflatable spacecraft components at CubeSatPlus in Sydney next week. Astrix Astronautics's mission is to solve critical supply chain and performance issues in spacecraft, and we have been working hard over the last few years developing inflatable, rigidising deployable components to meet this vision, including an in-space test in 2022. I will be discussing everything we have learnt over this time and hope to give more insight on where inflatable components can provide immense benefits, where they have weaknesses, and a sense of the practicalities in using them. Often we experience misconceptions around rigidity and lifetime of inflatables, as well as questions of how they compare to the current standard (hinged or roll-out arrays), which will be addressed. If you have the chance, it would be great to see you there at the UNSW Kensington Campus on 9-10 July! Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER), UNSW Sydney

New Zealand's first Space Minister Judith Collins points to an exciting future in this spread in the Herald's 2024 Project Auckland report. Prof Dawn Freshwater, who spoke at the launch luncheon, shares some brilliant work by the University of Auckland. More online at the Herald.

It was a pleasure to host the German Aerospace Center (DLR) delegation led by Divisional Board member for Space Research Anke Pagels-Kerp over two weeks in February. We heard from our 8 long-term joint projects in: quantum technologies, optical communications, propulsion, radiation shielding and synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Aside from the projects we visited some of New Zealand's space sector including: research institutions , government agencies. the Minister for Space and industry. I want to thank all the New Zealand partners for giving up their time to show DLR delegates the wide range of capabilities we have and to the DLR team for taking the time to travel all the way here. A good testament to the strength of our partnership.