South Australian Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund

Round 2 of the South Australian Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund is now open!

The South Australian Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund was established in 2024 to accelerate the transition of space technology to operational use while growing the South Australian space ecosystem through international collaboration.

In Round 2, funding of up to $320,000 is available to support one South Australian-based space company in collaboration with at least one international partner to fast-track the development of ground-breaking space innovation that will have a major impact on global space technology.

Applications for the Fund close at 11.59 pm on Sunday 2 February 2025.

Learn more & apply now

Round 1 – Funded Projects

The inaugural round of the South Australian Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund was open from April to May 2024.

Two grants of up to $100,000 were available for the first round of the Fund, matched by a co-contribution from applicants.

The two successful recipients were announced in September 2024.

Project lead: Safety from Space
Partner/s: NASA, The Mars Society (US and Australian arms), SmartSat CRC, UniSA and Flinders University

Grant amount: $100,000

Project description:

The Lunar Search and Rescue (LunaSAR) project, will trial advanced satellite communications (SATCOM) for future astronaut search and rescue operations on the surface of the Moon. The LunaSAR system is designed to be lighter and more reliable than current devices on the market, with a longer battery life.

The project will be conducted in collaboration with NASA, The Mars Society (US and Australian arms) and several Australian partners including SmartSat CRC, UniSA and Flinders University.

A successful trial could pave the way for a unique Australian contribution into NASA’s Artemis Program as well have applications for emergency communication in remote areas on Earth.

Project lead: AICRAFT

Partner: Guerin Technologies, India

Grant amount: $100,000

Project description:

The ‘Leoflect’ project, combines AICRAFT’s advanced edge computing system with a lightweight, ultra-compact, reflector array antenna from India’s Guerin Technologies.

This will create a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) payload – a type of radar used to create detailed images of the Earth’s surface – that has applications in areas such as agriculture, forestry, glacier monitoring, maritime surveillance and Defence intelligence.

‘Leoflect’ will be lighter and smaller than other solutions on the market and use advanced AI models to deliver power-efficient, high-speed data processing and analysis on orbit – a solution that is light-years ahead of existing technologies.

Enquiries

For any queries, please email spaceoffice@sa.gov.au.

Please include ‘South Australian Space Collaboration and Innovation Fund – (nature of the enquiry)’ in the subject line. A response will be provided within three business days.