Space News, October 2025

a day ago

The 76th International Astronautical Congress in Sydney gathered global space professionals, and Australia announced the Australasian Space Innovation Institute and four flagship programs covering agriculture, maritime surveillance, disaster management, and regional communities.
Australia signed a collaboration framework with NASA, including an Australian lunar rover carrying NASA instruments, and the European Space Agency is considering Australia for Associate Member status.
Tasmania is emerging as a space hub with the University of Tasmania operating a unique continental-scale antenna network, HENSOLDT providing the largest private RF antenna network for space tracking, and geographic advantages for polar orbit tracking.
Tasmania's Centre for Antarctic, Remote & Maritime Medicine uses Antarctica as a Mars analogue, and the Royal Hobart Hospital has a dual hyperbaric/hypobaric chamber for health research applicable to space.
Tasmanian companies develop space technology such as AI for cognitive load monitoring (FortifyEdge) and satellite-based wildfire prediction (Geoneon).
The James Webb Space Telescope observed CT Chamaeleontis b, a young planet forming its moons, with a carbon-rich circumplanetary disk, offering a unique view of moon formation.
Engineers are testing wind-powered inflatable 'tumbleweed' rovers for Mars that can cover hundreds of kilometers for a fraction of traditional rover costs; full-scale tests in Chile's Atacama Desert may lead to deployment in the 2030s.

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