Fleet Space sends Australia's first commercial mini-satellites into orbit

The two satellites Proxima I and II were recently launched onboard a rocket from US-owned New Zealand company Rocket Lab.

The take-off at Launch Complex-1 on New Zealand's Mhia Peninsula represents a huge step forward for Fleet Space's mission to build earth's digital nervous system to "power the next industrial revolution", bringing some 75 billion devices online.

The two mini-satelittes are identical 1.5 U CubeSats designed and built within six weeks.

"It is an incredible milestone to have successfully launched our first commercial CubeSats, Proxima I and II onboard Rocket Lab's latest mission," says Fleet Space Technologies co-founder and CEO Flavia Tata Nardini (pictured).

This is the first launch of many scheduled for us at Fleet Space Technologies, with our next nanosatellites, Centauri I and II, onboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 and ISRO's mission PSLV C43 in the coming weeks.

"It is an extraordinary feat to have four satellites launching in one month on three separate missions."

She says the company is thrilled to have build and launched the two Proxima satellites in only a couple of months.

"Rocket Lab moved rapidly to help us make this a reality extremely quickly everything from licensing to assisting with complete integration all happened faster than could have been anticipated. Our next steps are to monitor the satellites to ensure they connect, and then secure frequencies," she says.

"This is a huge step not just for the space industry, but also for industries like farming, mining, logistics and maritime who are closer than ever to having a satellite-based IoT network readily available to transform their businesses."

Related story: Adelaide's Fleet Space all set to launch with Elon Musk's SpaceX

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