New Space Flashbuild – High Altitude Balloon Flight

21 Nov 2018  Picosat Systems participated in its first High Altitude Balloon (HAB) launch on Saturday 10th November 2018, with Tim Parsons from Delta-V Newspace Alliance and UNSW TechConnect #newspaceflash build in Merriwa, country NSW. It was a chance for us to flight test our picosatellite hardware and software. Picosat Systems CEO Conrad Pires was there to join in the launch and recovery activities.

Attached is a photo taken with our picosat at around 10:45am AEDT, approximately 16,500m in altitude, of an area north west of Owens Gap in NSW. We are currently analysing the data captured and we’ll share more information about mission soon. Other images include the payload box and the balloon launch.

Thanks to Patrick Wang from partner Space Ops Australia for organising and integrating our picosat into the balloon payload, and to the excellent BLUEsat UNSW HAB team.

HomeGrown – Picosat Systems

11 February 2018 We were up early this morning speaking to The Weekend Wakeup’s Darren de Mello and Sue McDougall on News Talk 6PR 882 about Picosat Systems, small satellites and OzQube-1 for their HomeGrown segment. You can listen to what we had to say here: https://www.6pr.com.au/podcast/homegrown-picosat-systems-conrad-pires-and-stuart-mcandrew-february-11-2018/

PocketQubes and Mars

6 February 2018 We chatted with Sara about PocketQubes and what we’re up to on the How’s Life Podacst, alongside our “space friend” and Mars One candidate, Josh Richards. You can listen to the podcast here: https://www.howslifepodcast.org/episodes/ep-9 

Picosat Systems Trials Satellite Deployer in Zero-G

21 November 2017 Picosat Systems and its partner, the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), have trialled the deployment of its OzQube-1 pico-satellite on a “Zero-G” flight above France. “Being able to test the satellite deployer on board a Zero-G flight, thanks to ICRAR and the European Space Agency, has given us an incredible opportunity to prove that our design works and help us to refine things as we work towards putting our satellites into orbit in 2019,” CEO Conrad Pires said. For the full story and video check out www.icrar.org/picosat/.

WA Innovator of the Year Awards 2017

1 November 2017 Picosat Systems attended the 2017 Western Australian (WA) Innovator of the Year Awards, where it was one of four finalists for the Woodside Oil and Gas Encouragement Award. We were very honoured to win, as well as be in the same category as other great WA innovations. http://www.jtsi.wa.gov.au/what-we-do/science-and-innovation/innovation-awards-and-initiatives/wa-innovator-of-the-year/2017-winners

SpaceWorX

1 November 2017 Together with the University of Western Australia and Woodside Energy Limited, Picosat Systems brought together a panel of eight industry and academia experts, including keynote speaker Dr Megan Clark AC, to explore space-derived opportunities for industry, research and government and how Western Australia can play a leading role in Australia’s space future. CEO Conrad Pires MC’d the event and presented the Small Satellite Revolution as well as Picosat Systems’ capabilities.

IAC 2017

25-29 September 2017 CEO Conrad Pires attended the 2017 International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide in September. It was a great opportunity to discuss Picosat Systems’ capabilities with other space companies and watch Elon Musk present his multi-planetary ambitions. Pires also presented a paper on the Small Satellite Revolution, which was created as part of the International Space University’s 2017 Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program. http://www.iafastro.org/events/iac/iac-2017/

Cubesat Innovation Workshop 2017

18-19 April 2017 The biannual Cubesat Innovation Workshop held by the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) coincided with the launch into space of their cubesat UNSW-EC0, part of the international QB50 project. CTO Stuart McAndrew presented our technology demonstrator, OzQube-1. http://www.acser.unsw.edu.au/cubesat2017

CTO Presents at International PocketQube Workshop

24 March 2017 CTO Stuart McAndrew discussed building OzQube-1, our technology demonstrator PocketQube pico-satellite with his presentation, “Building a Satellite from Scratch: The DIY Engineering behind OzQube-1”, at the PocketQube Workshop run by the Delfi Program at the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands. http://www.delfispace.nl/pocketqube-workshop