Melbourne Space Lab
The Melbourne Space Laboratory develops innovative miniaturised payloads and technological solutions for nanosatellites, enabling scientific investigations, commercial opportunities and defence applications traditionally restricted to substantially larger and more expensive satellites.
Founded in 2019, the Melbourne Space Lab has already established itself as one of the points of excellence for nanosatellite R&D in Australia, as demonstrated by the award of $3.95 million to lead the first space mission competitively selected for flight by the Australian Space Agency. Our team includes academics with international leadership in space science and engineering and engineers with extensive international experience in aerospace companies.
What does the Melbourne Space Lab do?
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Our research
MSL is active in multiple wide-ranging research areas, from innovative astrophysics instrumentation development to low-latency communications and radiation tolerant electronic design and fabrication.
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Our services
The Melbourne Space Laboratory is always eager to engage with scientific and industry communities in research collaborations benefiting the Australian space sector. MSL offers both consulting services and access to its facilities.
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Our people
The MSL team includes academics with international leadership in space science and engineering and engineers with extensive international experience in aerospace companies.
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Opportunities
The Melbourne Space Laboratory welcomes both proffessional and academic staff with a number of exciting opportunities.
Our missions
SpIRIT
(Space Industry Responsive Intelligent Thermal)
SpIRIT was successfully launched on the 1st December 2023.
SpIRIT is the first satellite funded for development and launch by the Australian Space Agency, with an award of $3.95 million to the Melbourne Space Laboratory for its design, fabrication and test, and launch. The Space Industry Responsive Intelligent Thermal (SpIRIT) 6U nanosatellite will be the first Australian spacecraft to host a foreign space agency payload: It’s main instrument – an advanced sensor for gamma and x-rays for astrophysics and remote sensing – is provided by the Italian Space Agency, demonstrating the international standing of MSL in the global space sector. SpIRIT will also qualify several technology subsystems in-orbit, in core areas for MSL R&D (thermal management, low-latency communications, autonomous operations), and advance Australia’s electric propulsion sovereign capabilities through a partnership with Neumann Space.
Three additional Australian companies (Inovor Technologies, Sitael Australia, and Nova Systems) are partners in SpIRIT, demonstrating the strong links of MSL with local industry.
SkyHopper
SkyHopper is a mission concept under development (funded for phase A/B) for a 12U nanosatellite equipped with a low-noise, rapid response infrared telescope. SkyHopper will provide imaging at 0.8-1.7 micron with four simultaneously exposed bands over a field of view of 1.5 deg2 (2048×2048 pixel detector), with a focal plane array actively cooled to a temperature of T=140±0.5 K.
SkyHopper aims to be the first CubeSat in the world to carry out cryogenic infrared observations from space, which so far have been restricted to larger and significantly more expensive satellites, demonstrating feasibility both for astrophysics applications as well as for space-based infrared space situational awareness.