Launched into space back on 29 August this year, Binar-1, the brain child of the Space Science and Technology Centre (SSTC) at Curtin University, has now left the International Space Station and entered low earth orbit.
The CubeSat was entirely coded and built by staff and students from the SSTC, and is also the first WA spacecraft launched into orbit from the International Space Station (ISS).
SSTC Director, John Curtin Distinguished Professor Phil Bland said another six WA-made CubeSats were scheduled for launch over the next 18 months.
“Binar technology will lower the cost barriers and provide local industries with a real and practical pathway into the growing space sector, which generated $4.8 billion in revenue in 2018-19 and is growing 3 to 4 times faster than the overall economy,”
Professor Phil Bland
The latest
On 7 October, the spacecraft left the Japanese module of the International Space Station.
Entering low-earth orbit from the tiny airlock of the Japanese Experiment Module Kibo on the ISS, WA’s first homegrown spacecraft will soon begin testing critical systems, collect data, and take photographs from 400 kilometres above the earth.
The launch of WA’s first homegrown spacecraft on the Space-X rocket was exciting, but this moment and the coming few days are the really crucial points for our Binar Space Program and the team of staff and students who designed and built Binar-1 from scratch.
Professor Phil Bland
Professor Bland also said that contacting the satellite and testing will “… set us up to achieve our aim of sending six more satellites into space over the next 18 months, and our ultimate goal of taking WA to the Moon by 2025.”
Can you hear it?
Binar Program Manager, Ben Hartig said Binar-1 was built to communicate using Ultra High Frequency (UHF) radio signals.
Following collaboration with amateurs around the world, and local school groups, many will be able to tune in when the spacecraft passes overhead.
With the right equipment and antenna, anyone can hear Binar-1 when it makes contact. But it will be our Curtin SSTC team who can decode the signal to tell us where Binar-1 is and how it is performing. The team will confirm all systems are working and then begin sending instructions for the next phase of its mission.
Binar Program Manager, Ben Hartig
The spacecraft also has two cameras on board, which will take images of WA’s coastline.
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