The Australian Space Summit 2025 (aka #AusSpace25 sees the best and brightest of the nation and beyond going to Sydney for an intense series of talks, panels, and networking in which we explore and shape Australia's space industry. An incredible event that I will hosted for the third year running, a true honour that I thank Space Connect for bravely/brilliantly (you pick) allowing me to have once more..!
I was particularly excited by the range of emerging and established companies and agencies (and their key decision-makers!) from around the world who came to the ICC in Sydney over two days (Tuesday 27th and Wednesday 28th of May). It’s fair to say this has been a tumultuous year in which our nation has experienced a range of changes, challenges, but also successes. One thing that hasn't changed, however, is the continued growth of the space industry globally, as well as that growth in importance in the Civil and Defence sectors alike.
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It truly was an honour to deliver the 18th Ithaka lecture at Sydney Grammar School to a packed theatre of students, parents, and alumni. The concept of the Ithaka lectures follows that of the poem - that the journey and learnings along the way matter more than the destination (or at least the reaching of it!). To that end I took the audience on a journey from the moon landing of Apoll to the explorations and scientific discoveries of space 2.0 today with Artemis. That the current space race is no longer between superpowers alone but also startups. I couldn’t help but raise the amazing efforts of Australian universities, reasearch organisations, and companies in supporting this new era of space - and shared the efforts from CSIRO to Fleet to our own national lunar rover. Somehow I managed to also pack in some breaking cosmological discoveries with the astonishingly powerful James Webb Space Telescope - including how it might be used to detect alien life.
The journey is far from over in the exploration (and perhaps yes exploitation!) of space, and these brilliant young people will play a role in that I have no doubt. My thanks to the teachers at Sydney Grammar School for this chance to speak to hundreds of people and also to Becky Lovelock for the photos from the night!
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I spoke to Australian space pioneer Dr Chris Boshuizen at the Powerhouse Museum about his efforts in space… from a small country town, to co-founding Planet Labs (now the largest Earth Observing satellite fleet in history) to provide open and accessible satellite-based planet monitoring (if you have used Google Maps, you’ve used his company’s images!) and then fulfilling his lifelong dream of space travel onboard the second Blue Origin New Shepard flight in October 2021, making Chris the third Australian in space
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It was an incredible honour to host the inaugural Australian Space Summit held in Sydney, bringing together inspiring industry leaders to share with colleagues nationwide the tools and strategies to break into the domestic and global supply chain. I can’t wait for next year!
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Incredible news as one of the largest Federal Government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative grants ($2.325M from Gov, for a total expenditure of $4.65M) is awarded to Titomic and Swinburne!
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I'm beyond thrilled to announce that I have been appointed the inaugural Director of the new Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne University of Technology !
I can’t wait to help companies and communities solve their problems on Earth through Space, together with my amazing Swinburne colleagues.
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I was amazed to find myself nominated as Academic of the Year in the inaugural Space Connect Australian Space Awards but to find myself now a finalist is beyond ridiculous..! Thankfully the Honour of being alongside such incredible finalists is all I need, as there's no way I'm winning against such legends.
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I don’t want this to sound like an Oscar acceptance speech but this is truly an incredible (and humbling!) honour to serve on the Australian Space Agency’s inaugural Space Industry Leader’s Forum. It’s even more humbling when you see my fellow exceptionally experienced and talented colleagues on this Forum…!
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At nearly a quarter billion dollars (!) of cash and inkind contributions SmartSatCRC is the largest space R&D investment in Australian history. Huge congrats to all 84 partners, but in particular UniSA and Nova Systems who led this bid from an idea just 18 months ago. On a personal level it’s incredibly exciting to know that we at Swinburne will be a core partner in this incredible new CRC developing a new era of tech for space and the better monitoring of our planet.
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It’s fair to say I love all things space, but I have a particular fascination with developing novel uses of space to help us back on Earth. At Swinburne’s Data Science Research Institute we try to bridge the divide between discoveries in academia and their potential commercial uses in Industry. Working across the university and our data science experts to find solutions to current industry needs that can make Australia a healthier, wealthier and safer country? The next few years will be fun!
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Just sharing the video of “The Case for Space” panel I hosted at the World Government Summit in 2018, with my opening thoughts on the promise and responsibility of space utilisation.
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