AITC Update

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue27 1–30 April 2022

The space environment is harsh, no doubt, and space testing is too.

The human aspiration to space is all about boldness, and likewise is the space business.

Shortness of sight and of breath are lethal, you need to take risks and to innovate if you want to get to the space.

At the end this is also the main feature of human progress.

Our National Space Test Facility (NSTF) has spared no efforts in the past two years or so to contribute to the successful development of eight different prototype spacecraft from Australia and New Zealand which are now in orbit, and more are on the way.

And you know, the past two years or so were all but easy.

This has required to engage extensively with the space industry, streamlining their access to space testing at NSTF and accommodating flexibly their rapidly evolving needs.

The testing activities have been so hectic that also during the campus shutdowns due to COVID-19 we performed testing essential for our industrial partners business, in fact the NSTF was selected as the first ANU non-COVID-related research facility to restart its activities in May 2020 under strict guidelines.

Thanks to this amazing track record of successful test programs, the NSTF is now recognised by the space industry as the place to go in Australasia for space environmental qualification, with all the capabilities and instrumentation required to provide the best mission assurance prior to launch.

This has increased even more our responsibility towards the Australian community who is aiming to triple the size of the space sector by 2030 to $12 billion and create an extra 20,000 new jobs.

But this is also putting the NSTF in a very good position to seize emerging opportunities, including the new sovereign space capabilities under development for the Australian Defence Force as part of the $7b billion investment over the next few years, and the four new satellites that will be developed as part of the $1.2b National Space Mission for Earth Observation just announced in the  latest budget.

The NSTF is preparing for future challenges by innovating.

The NSTF has played an instrumental role in establishing the National Space Qualification Network (NSQN), a national team of research and industry partners with a combined $1b in space testing and qualification infrastructure aimed at providing the Australian industry with space radiation testing in addition to environmental testing.

The Network received $2.5M in grant funding from the Australian Space Agency’s Space Infrastructure Fund, plus $250,000 from the ACT Government.

With part of this funding the NSTF is developing new cutting-edge experimental capabilities, such as advanced diagnostics for thermal imaging and contamination monitoring in thermal vacuum tests and a pyroshock test facility

Meanwhile many substantial safety upgrades have been realized at the NSTF, including a control room for the thermal vacuum facility, a control room for the vibration facility, an automatic venting system of liquid nitrogen pressure build up and an oxygen depletion system for the main test hall.

The experimental activities are now the outcome of the NSTF team consisting of myself, Joice Mathew, Alexey Grigoriev and Nick Herrald. When I say the National Space Test Facility I mean the incredible mixture of professionalism and technology that enables ANU’s world-class space environmental testing capabilities.

To conclude, space is also something that the inhabitants of this land have been connected to for millennia and I want to pay respect to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage and strongly wish to reflect them on the journey of the National Space Test Facility going forward.

Ad Astra!

Eduardo Trifoni

_{Figure 1: M2A and M2B satellites after successful in-orbit separation}