Page 10 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec-Jan 2021

10 NEWS REVIEW INDUSTRY UPDATE
DECEMBER 2020 – JANUARY 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
LEFT: Momentus will gain access to low inclination and equatorial orbits using Gilmour Space’s Eris launch services.
will purchase one dedicated Eris launch service from an Australian launch site.
“Momentus is proud to announce an- other partnership with the Australian space industry, shortly after sealing an agreement to launch Skykraft’s satellite in 2021,” Mikhail Kokorich, CEO of Momen- tus, said.
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.
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 technology, including on-board command and control and data sharing capabilities, were tested using the 3.4-meter (11-foot) 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 signifi- cant step for Boeing and industry in the progress of autonomous mission systems technology,” Hughes said.
The activity was the final milestone de- livered in partnership with the Queensland government as part of Boeing’s Advanced Queensland Autonomous Systems Plat- form Technology Project. During the proj- ect, Boeing has worked with over 90 per- sonnel from a number of SMEs including RFDesigns, Amber Technology,
Premier Box, McDermott Avia- tion and Five Rings Aerospace.
Technology and capabilities proven under this program will form part of the Boeing Air-
RIGHT: Technology and capabilities proven under this program will form part of the Boeing Airpower Teaming System.
power Teaming System and future Boeing autonomous platforms.
The Cloncurry facility is the largest of its 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
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