The Australian space industry is set to soar to new heights with Fleet Space Technologies winning state and federal government backing to build its new Hyper Factory in Adelaide.
The Federal Government on 3rd March announced $20m in grant funding support for Fleet Space’s Australian Space Manufacturing Hub – to be located at the recently announced Australian Space Park at Adelaide Airport – under the Collaboration Stream of the $1.3bn Modern Manufacturing Initiative . The South Australian Government is also contributing $20m towards the $66m project, which is expected to create 221 local jobs, as well as more than 1,000 others indirectly.
Fleet Space is Australia’s leading space company. The company has designed, built and launched the country’s only commercial satellites and has six satellites already in orbit as it works towards a mission towards building a constellation of 140 small satellites in Low Earth Orbit. Fleet Space plans to build a satellite Hyper Factory in Australian Space Park in Adelaide, and develop new 3D printed small satellites.
The Federal and State funding will supplement industry investment into the Australian Space Park by Fleet Space Technologies, AT Space, Alauda and Q-CTRL. The purpose-built facility will drive collaboration between Australia’s local space manufacturers to build innovative satellites and rockets. It will make South Australia the largest manufacturer of satellites in Australia.
From the Hyper Factory, the Fleet Space’s Alpha smallsat constellation will be designed, engineered and manufactured. Working with a range of partners, Fleet Space Technologies will help local companies in neighbouring industries like defence, communications and precision engineering enter the space supply chain and harness local robotics and automation expertise.
Fleet Space is currently enjoying a period of rapid growth and global expansion. In February it announced that it had established its first international HQ in Houston, Texas. The choice of Houston as an anchor location places Fleet Space at the heart of the world’s leading government space agency NASA, following collaboration between Fleet and NASA on the Artemis manned missions to the moon planned for 2024.
“The technology we have developed has the potential to provide worldwide connectivity to multiple industries,” said Flavia Tata Nardini, CEO and Co-Founder of Fleet Space. “This is reflected in our global ambition and commitment to the United States as the first phase of our international expansion. We have built strong links in the US through our work with NASA’s Artemis Mission and we look forward on building on these foundations in the world’s fastest growing space market.”