Kanyini – the first state government-funded satellite in Australian history – is now in space.
The South Australian owned and manufactured satellite was successfully launched on Saturday 17 August onboard a SpaceX rocket (pictured below) from the United States.
Built by a local team of South Australian-based companies – SmartSat CRC, Inovor and Myriota – Kanyini is part of a $6.5 million mission helping to create hi tech jobs in the state’s space sector and develop vital space capabilities in the State.
Now that the satellite – which is roughly the size of shoebox and weighs 12kg – is in orbit, the next milestone for the project is to establish stable communications through an operations centre located at Inovor Technologies in Lot Fourteen, Adelaide.
Once fully commissioned, Kanyini will deliver critical space data for use by government and research institutions, particularly in the areas of sustainability and climate impacts.
Research initiatives to be undertaken by Kanyini include early bushfire detection – with technology that can detect fires from space 500 times faster than traditional processing – along with a program, led by South Australia
n Department for Environment and Water and Greening Adelaide – to sense urban heat islands in the state.
Data collected by Kanyini will also be used to develop robust and trustworthy predictive AI capabilities that can accurately predict natural disaster events such as landslides and flooding, being led by Queensland University of Technology and European Space Agency Phi-Lab.
SmartSat CRC chief executive officer Andy Koronios said the launch was “a giant leap for South Australia’s space sector”.
“The Kanyini mission is not just about sending a satellite into space; it’s about building South Australia's capabilities and contributing valuable data for applications that enhance our lives here in South Australia,” Mr Koronios said.
Inovor CEO Dr Matt Tetlo said that putting anything into space was an “extraordinary feat”, and could only be achieved through collaborative effort, while Myriota CTO and co-founder Dr David Haley said the launch was “a testament to the collaborative efforts of the Kanyini team in preparing the 6U CubeSat and our onboard IoT payload to withstand the harsh conditions of space”.
In 2021, every South Australian school was invited to participate in a competition to name Australia’s first state satellite. The winning entry, Kanyini, was entered by students from Findon High School and announced at the Australian Space Forum on 15 September 2021.
Follow Kanyini’s journey here.
