Nova Systems space site at Peterborough, South Australia, handles data from ever-increasing satellite constellations
Nova Systems chief executive officer Jim McDowell at the company's space precinct at Peterborough in South Australia, catering for data download needs of the ever-increasing satellites and their constellations.
Image courtesy Nova Systems
Defence technology company Nova Systems launched its space precinct at Peterborough in South Australia’s mid north in 2022, amid new deals with European space companies, including working with Italian company Leaf Space.
The 21-hectare site outside Peterborough already supported several international ground stations for clients including Tyvak USA and RBC USA.
Nova Systems chief executive officer Jim McDowell said the precinct also supported the Australian Space Agency and catered for data download needs of the ever-increasing satellites and their constellations: “It provides vital in-country capability, a critical element of Australia’s space industry eco system and has been designed for the international space market.”
McDowell said the continued development and future success of the Peterborough site was “testament to our space capability, made up of satellite communications and space specialists working at the forefront of industry.”
Nova also planned to use the site as a ground station test bed for emerging Space 2.0 technologies and to support defence projects. The site, 250 kilometres north of Adelaide, was earmarked to host Nova Systems’ passive array sensor solution as part of its offering for the defence space situational awareness Project JP9360 in an all-Australian collaboration with Curtin University.
The Peterborough precinct would also have the UHF terminal as part of Nova Systems’ autonomous intelligent ground station system being developed as part of the Australian Space Agency’s funded space industry responsive intelligent thermal satellite project.
Nova Systems and the University of South Australia led moves for the SmartSat cooperative research centre based next to the Australian Space Agency at Lot Fourteen on North Terrace, Adelaide city. In 2022, the SmartSat CRC had 74 participants contributing $167 million, adding to the federal government’s $55 million, with a focus on advanced satellite communications, connectivity and Earth observation.