Pioneering Australian rocket company Gilmour Space Technologies has won the space category at the InnovationAus 2021 Awards for Excellence.
The InnovationAus 2021 Awards for Excellence were presented on Wednesday night at a gala black-tie dinner at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney.
The space and remote automation category, sponsored by Microsoft, was taken out by Queensland tech company Gilmour Space Technologies, which has a mission to become a global provider of affordable and reliable satellite launches to low-earth orbits and beyond.
Gilmour is commercialising proprietary hybrid propulsion technology and will develop, manufacture and launch Australian built rockets and satellites to orbit from Australia. At the core of the company’s mission is an orbital-class hybrid propulsion engine that has been proven to overcome major performance issues for hybrid rockets.
Gilmour Space Technologies is the largest sovereign space manufacturer in Australia.
Aerospace engineering design and build company Hypersonix, which specialises in scramjets and hypersonic launch systems and Quasar Satellite Technologies, offering ground stations capable of communicating with hundreds of satellites simultaneously based on technology developed by CSIRO, were both finalists in the category.
Australia’s domestic capability in the space sector has taken huge strides in recent years and has seen significant national investments.
“We are delighted to sponsor [the] InnovationAus space award category. Space is the next centre of gravity for data,” Microsoft Australia Azure Space Lead Lynn McDonald said.
“Microsoft is developing the tools and capabilities that allow any organisation to rapidly gather data from space, gain unique insights, and achieve more.
“Building on our trusted cloud, productivity, data and development platforms, Microsoft is expanding its mission to empower every person and organisation on the planet by democratising space.”
Space-related technologies are now mainstream and underpin the daily lives of all Australians, with the likes of GPS services, internet access, telecommunications and weather forecasts.
The space startup ecosystem in Australia is booming, with launch companies featuring Australian-designed and manufactured rockets and nano-satellite makers with ambitions for global constellations of satellites.
The space category at the InnovationAus 2021 Awards for Excellence celebrated the most ambitious entrepreneurs in the space sector and ancillary remote automation technologies.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.