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An Optus-led consortium comprising leading deep tech scale-ups and government has announced plans to build a sovereign Australian Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite at Adelaide's Lot Fourteen precinct, targeting a spacecraft launch in early 2028.
As part of plans to build, launch and operate the satellite, the consortium has confirmed two pieces of equipment developed under the Australian Government’s iLAuNCH Trailblazer Universities Program, including HEO’s world-leading non-Earth imaging capability.
Both iLAuNCH and HEO are consortium partners, alongside the Australian Department of Defence’s Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) and Inovor Technologies, whose premises will be used to build the satellite.
"This project is a great example of industry, academia and government coming together to develop groundbreaking space technologies to catapult the Australian space sector forward," says Inovor Technologies CEO Dr Matthew Tetlow.
"For Inovor Technologies, this represents a significant milestone in our strategy to build larger, more capable spacecraft using the success we’ve achieved on orbit as a foundation to deliver genuine Australian-made space capability.
"This collaboration will strengthen our national space sovereignty by accelerating advanced satellite manufacturing, creating highly skilled jobs, and proving that Australia has the capability to lead in the global space industry."
Meanwhile, the Singaporean-owned telco Optus intends to operate the spacecraft from its Belrose Space Operations Centre in Sydney.
"Connectivity continues to play a critical role in the Australian economy, whether that be through supporting small businesses in regional and remote towns or large enterprises with employees spread across the country, we must continue to explore new ways of delivering services that businesses rely on," says Optus head of satellite and space systems, Nick Leake.
"By collaborating with Australia’s industry leaders across the public, private and academic sectors, we are able to further advance the use of technology to solve problems, fuel growth and define what’s next for the telco industry while supporting Australian businesses and Australian workers."
The first piece of equipment that has been confirmed is HEO’s new 20cm Adler Imager, a specialised space telescope designed to take high-resolution pictures of space objects, also known as non-earth imaging.
This will allow for the consortium to leverage HEO’s unique capability to provide defence, intelligence and civil government agencies and commercial customers with critical insights into space objects.
"This partnership brings an exciting convergence of HEO’s unique technological capabilities, Optus’ deep satellite operations know-how and the University of Queensland’s leading research," says HEO senior partnerships manager Joann Yap.
"At HEO, we’re passionate about bringing clarity to space through our non-Earth imaging technology, and we are excited to advance an Australian space domain awareness capability with our Adler hosted equipment on Inovor’s spacecraft.
"This collective effort is strategically designed to deliver robust, sovereign space solutions that benefit our nation and allies, and propel the entire Australian space industry forward."
HEO was founded in 2016 by William Crowe and Hiranya Jayakody, who were finalists in the Sydney Young Entrepreneur Awards in 2024 and were Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs listers this year.
Following a $12 million Series A round in 2023, they expanded to the USA by the end of that year and the team approximately doubled in size over the course off 2024.
The second piece of hosted equipment that has been confirmed is to be developed by the University of South Australia with support from SmartSat CRC, including a compact communication terminal that functions at fast speeds, using laser light (optical) to send and receive data between another satellite or a ground terminal.
The hosted equipment will also include a more conventional radio frequency communications capability, supporting DSTG’s ongoing research and development activities in optical and Low Earth Orbit satellite communications.
This project builds on the innovative work already announced by iLAuNCH in partnership with The Australian National University (ANU), Optus and Leonardo UK to build smaller, lower cost laser communications ground stations. Additionally, Optus is in discussion with other partners to explore additional opportunities that will help develop future space capabilities, including multi-orbit pathways.
iLAuNCH Trailblazer executive director Darin Lovett says the partners are strengthening Australia's national space ecosystem and driving innovation for global impact
"This project represents a huge step forward in transforming Australia’s world class research to sovereign space capabilities for our nation," Lovett says.
"iLAuNCH, an Australian Government Department of Education Trailblazer program, is proud to have brought together incredible researchers from our partner universities – University of Southern Queensland, Australian National University, and the University of South Australia to deliver the next generation of communications and advanced space-based observation."
The news also comes soon after Gold Coast-based Gilmour Space Technologies successfully launched and deployed its modular, payload-agnostic satellite platform ElaraSat on the SpaceX Transporter-14 launch in late June.
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