The Tui CubeSat was a payload onboard the US National Reconnaissance Office’s Otter mission. Its aim is to test communication pathways that will help reduce communication delays in space operations.
Tui will generate data over two years and will be used to inform New Zealand’s defence space policy considerations and potential future research work. It will also test communication pathways that will help reduce communication delays in space operations.
It comes after the New Zealand Defence Force’s first orbital research payload, Korimako, was successfully launched in March 2024.
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“The Tui payload launch demonstrates a continuation of DST’s pathway into space operations research and development that began with the Korimako payload,” Defence Science and Technology (DST) director David Galligan said.
“We are delighted to be enabled in these endeavours through our strong international partnerships.”
New Zealand’s DST is a unit of the country’s military that employs scientists, technologists, technicians and business services professionals.
The payload was one of several high-profile local spacecraft launched on Transporter-12.
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Space Connect reported last week how Fleet Space launched two new satellites on the SpaceX blast-off to improve its technology that can detect underground minerals from space.
Fleet’s “ExoSphere” product has led the company to be named one of Australia’s fastest-growing companies, boasting clients such as Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold and Core Lithium.
It effectively allows mining companies to both speed up the hunt for minerals and reduce costs by lowering the need for invasive land surveying.
The two new Centauri satellites are the ninth and 10th launched by the South Australian-based company and come nine months after it launched its last spacecraft, Centauri-6.
The Transporter-12 rideshare mission also included Varda’s W-2 capsule, which will soon touch down at South Australia’s Koonibba Test Range.
It comes three months after the space agency granted Southern Launch, which operates the site, Australia’s first authorisation to capture spacecraft that re-enter Earth’s atmosphere from orbit.
Varda, the company behind the W-2 capsule, believes in-space manufacturing could lead to the development of lifesaving treatments because of the natural advantages of being away from Earth, including microgravity and a vacuum.
Aside from pharmaceuticals, the spacecraft also contains payloads, including a heatshield developed with NASA’s Ames Research Center and a spectrometer created by the US Air Force’s research division.
The re-entry will allow the payloads to experience extreme hypersonic conditions that will exceed beyond Mach 15 – or 15 times the speed of sound.
“High hypersonic flow conditions are impossible to replicate on the ground, and flight testing is the only way to advance our understanding of the unique aerothermal chemistry experienced by spacecraft on their way back to Earth,” Varda said.
“Additionally, most test vehicles are not recoverable and are often limited to lower hypersonic conditions that do not provide a complete picture of the environment with adequate heat loads, pressures and plasma formation.”
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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