Page 16 - Australian Defence Magazine Feb-Mar 21

16 NEWS REVIEW
INDUSTRY UPDATE
FEBRUARY – MARCH 2021 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
GILMOUR SPACE SIGNS ORBITAL TRANSPORT AGREEMENT WITH MOMENTUS
MOMENTUS, a commercial space company offering in-space infrastructure services, and Gilmour Space Technologies have an- nounced a new agreement for launch and orbital transport services.
Under the agreement, Momentus will gain access to low inclination and equa- torial orbits using Gilmour Space’s Eris launch services. With Momentus’ Vigoride transportation service, Gilmour Space will have the capability to expand the flight do- main of the Eris rockets (the company has
several larger models coming to market beginning in 2023) and enable constella- tion deployments and missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO).
Gilmour Space has the option to book up to three Vigoride charter missions for or- bital transfer services from Momentus over the 2023-2025 period, while Momentus will purchase one dedicated Eris launch service from an Australian launch site.
“Momentus is proud to announce an- other partnership with the Australian
LEFT: Momentus will gain access to low inclination and equatorial orbits using Gilmour Space’s Eris launch services.
space industry, shortly after sealing an agreement to launch Skykraft’s satellite in 2021,” Mikhail Kokorich, CEO of Momen- tus, said. “We are looking forward to sup- porting ambitious projects in partnership with Gilmour Space, such as flagship mis- sions with the Australian Space Agency and development of sovereign space capa- bilities with the local industry.”
Gilmour Space’s Eris launch vehicle will debut its services in 2022 and offer lift-off capability to LEO in the 300kg class. A more capable variant, Eris Heavy, is intended to be commercially available in 2025 with a lift off capac- ity up to two tonnes. The Eris family of launch vehicles will launch from Austra- lian and international launch sites, offer- ing access to low inclination as well as Sun-synchronous orbits.
“This is a great example of how innova- tive companies are coming together to ac- celerate development and provide new ac- cess to space,” Gilmour Space CEO, Adam Gilmour said.
Gilmour is looking to raise a next round of venture capital funding early this year.
BOEING COMPLETES TEAMING FLIGHTS
BOEING recently completed flight tests with five high-performance surrogate jets operating autonomously in a team at the new Queensland Flight Test Range in Cloncurry, Australia.
Boeing’s advanced autonomy technol- ogy, including on-board command and control and data sharing capabilities, were tested using the 3.4-metre aircraft.
“The tests demonstrated our success in applying artificial intelligence algorithms to ‘teach’ the aircraft’s brain to understand what is required of it,” Emily Hughes, di- rector of Boeing’s Phantom Works Inter- national, said. “The data link capabilities enabled the aircraft to communicate with the other platforms so that they could col- laborate to achieve a mission.”
Testing lasted 10 days, with aircraft incrementally added until the five oper- ated together. During testing, the aircraft reached speeds of 270 kilometres per hour.
“With the size, number and speed of air-
craft used in the test, this is a very significant step for Boeing and industry in the progress of autonomous mission systems technology,” Hughes said.
The activity was the final
milestone delivered in part-
nership with the Queensland government as part of Boeing’s
Advanced Queensland Au-
tonomous Systems Platform Technology Project. Dur-
ing the project, Boeing has
worked with over 90 person-
nel from a number of SMEs
including RFDesigns, Amber Technology, Premier Box, McDermott Aviation and Five Rings Aerospace.
Technology and capabilities proven un- der this program will form part of the Boe- ing Airpower Teaming System and future Boeing autonomous platforms.
The Cloncurry facility is the largest of its
ABOVE: Technology and capabilities proven under this program will form part of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System.
kind in the southern hemisphere and in- cludes a hangar, buildings for office space and monitoring equipment, range control systems, a surveillance radar and amenities.
QinetiQ was appointed to design and construct the facility, establish the flight test range and manage this foundation stage of the drone testing facility.
BOEING
SUPPLIED