Space Machines Company
Space Machines Company is a Space start-up that provides orbital logistics and services to both commercial and government customers. The company headquarters is based in Sydney, Australia, and has offices in Adelaide, Bengaluru in India and Denver in Colorado, USA.
The company provides a range of current and future services to the space industry including:
- Space Transportation for spacecraft deployment into LEO, MEO, GEO and beyond as well as payload hosting services across a range of orbits using the Optimus platform.
- In-Space Services, including asset inspection, refueling/life extension, space debris removal and spacecraft servicing.
- Exploration services including scientific and commercial missions to lunar and beyond.
The company is developing an autonomous Orbital Servicing Vehicle (OSV) to service spacecraft in orbit. In March 2024, the inaugural satellite Optimus was launched on the SpaceX’ Transporter-10 RideShare Mission aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The Optimus OSV was Australia’s largest private satellite launched, however, a few weeks later the company lost communication with the spacecraft.
Company History
Space Machines Company (SMC) was founded in 2019 by entrepreneurs Rajat Kulshrestha and George Freney. Kulshrestha, an aerospace engineer, had been busying himself in the US and Australia in various CTO and CEO roles, before launching Space Machines Company with Freney, with locations in South Australia’s start-up hub, Lot 14, a manufacturing facility in Sydney, and a small team in India. Kulshrestha and Freney had the idea to build an autonomous Orbital Servicing Vehicle (OSV) to provide “roadside assistance in space” for existing space infrastructure.
On March 4th, 2024, the company successfully launched their inaugural satellite Optimus on the SpaceX’ Transporter-10 RideShare Mission aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. The Optimus OSV was Australia’s largest private satellite launched, however, a few weeks later the company lost communication with the spacecraft.
In April 2024 the company was awarded a contract valued at 8.5 million USD as part of Australian government’s International Space Investment (ISI) India Projects to create a joint Australian-Indian mission called Space MAITRI to demonstrate space debris management.
On December 5th, 2024, the company partnered with UK Start-up Lúnasa, a ISAM technology developer and service provider. The partnership marked a pivotal milestone for Space Machines Company for its international expansion to build the future of space capability and infrastructure. The Optimus OSV, due to launch in 2026 on a NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) rocket, will employ Lúnasa’s StarLogic’ Rendezvous Proximity Operations (RPO) sensor payload.
On December 16th, 2024, SMC unveiled the Optimus Viper, a rapid-response spacecraft variant specifically designed to provide immediate, high-fidelity intelligence and protection for critical space assets. The spacecraft operates at distances less than 10km from target satellites, Optimus Viper delivers detailed intelligence about critical space infrastructure that, until now, has been impossible to achieve.
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Resources
www.spacemachines.com
www.sasic.sa.gov.au
www.techlab.uts.edu.au
www.factoriesinspace.com
www.forbes.com.eu edition November 23rd, 2023
www.forbes.com.eu edition May 22nd, 2024
www.space.skyrocket.de
www.space.gov.au
www.inspace.anu.edu.au
www.asiapacificdefencereporter.com edition December 5th, 2024
www.australiandefense.com.eu edition December 5th, 2024
www.spaceanddefense.io edition December 12th, 2024
www.asiapacificdefencereporter.com edition December 16th, 2024