Antarctic Broadband satellite project celebrates grant
The team behind a project to deliver broadband satellite communications to Antarctica is celebrating after being awarded a $2.11 million grant under Round 1 of the Australian Space Research Program. The team is led by Aerospace Research Pty Ltd, our research and development arm.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for everyone in the team to invest in space technology and operations in Australia”, said Shaun Wilson, Principal of Aerospace Concepts. “We’re thrilled to be working with our partners from Australia, Canada and the USA to provide broadband communications to Antarctica.”
The Antarctic Broadband – Definition and Capability Development project team will begin development of a broadband satellite communications service aimed at meeting the data transfer needs of the entire Antarctic community. Mr Wilson says traditional space and terrestrial communications services are unable to meet the demand for data from the growing research community in Antarctica.
“Access to geostationary communications satellites is intermittent and low-quality, optic fibre is too expensive and prone to damage with moving ice and snow, and research bases are too remote for terrestrial microwave links – a dedicated satellite solution is the best solution to solve the data transfer bottleneck troubling Antarctic scientists.”
Broadband communications satellites are traditionally built with big budgets and big hardware, but the team will be taking advantage of new technology to provide the service using small satellites and at a much lower price. “Typical communications satellites weigh over a tonne and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to develop and launch – we’ll be using technology from the University of Toronto and our Australian partners to develop a very capable system on a much smaller scale.”
Our consortium partners are:
- Australian National University, Mt Stromlo Observatory, Canberra
- EM Solutions Pty Ltd, Brisbane
- Environmental Systems & Services Pty Ltd, Melbourne
- JosephMark Pty Ltd, Brisbane
- The Tauri Group LLC, Washington DC
- University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies – Space Flight Laboratory
The Australian Space Research Program is a Federal Government initiative to encourage investment in space research and development by Australian industry and academia. “Aerospace Concepts is a small company. We usually wouldn’t have the resources to take on a project of this magnitude, but this grant will allow us to employ highly-skilled aerospace engineers, invest in emerging technologies and strengthen our relationships with Australian and international aerospace organisations” said Mr Wilson.
About Shoal
Shoal (formerly Aerospace Concepts) is a complex systems design company. We use Systems Engineering combined with Modelling, Simulation and Analysis to help our clients define, analyse, decide, optimise, and deliver technology-intensive projects in complex environments across Defence, Space, Transport, Energy and Infrastructure.
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Media Contact
Shaun Wilson
CEO and Founder, Shoal Group
+61 438 394 288
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