Australian Newspace startup Inovor Technologies, which provides a host of nanosatellite solutions, has won a defence contract worth AU$2.5m (US$1.7m).
Under the contract, Inovor will deliver a satellite bus from its existing Apogee range for the Buccaneer Main Mission, the second of two Buccaneer defence-science missions jointly conducted by the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra Space.
Buccaneer, as a whole, consists of two cubesats studying, broadly, radar calibration from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Space Situational Awareness (SSA). The first Cubesat was launched in 2017, with a bus provided by US-based Pumpkin, and declared a success. Buccaneer is Australia’s first domestically-developed government defence science mission.
“The Buccaneer program is aimed at improving our understanding of the outer atmosphere, in particular the ionosphere, which plays a key role in Australia’s world-leading Over-the-Horizon radar capability,” said Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price.
“Small, low-cost satellites like Buccaneer provide a unique opportunity to support the development of an Australian Space Capability for Defence and to rejuvenate Australian space research.”
