🚀 We have lift off! South Australian satellite Kanyini successfully launches into space

Kanyini, the first-ever Australian-owned and built satellite, was launched successfully from the United States today on a SpaceX rocket. 

What happened:

• Kanyini represents the first state government-funded satellite in the country and was constructed by a local team of South Australia-based firms: SmartSat CRC, Inovor, and Myriota. 

• The $6.5 million mission is helping to create high-tech jobs in the state's space sector and develop vital space capabilities in the state.

• This will be followed by the establishment of stable communications through an operations centre located at Inovor Technologies in Lot Fourteen, Adelaide, when it gets into orbit.

What Next :

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 using Kanyini is developing state-of-the-art technology for the early detection of bushfires that identifies a fire from space 500 times quicker than conventional methods. 

 Kanyini will also support a program run by the South Australian Department for Environment and Water and Greening Adelaide to locate urban heat islands throughout the state.

The data captured by Kanyini will underpin the development of accurate predictive artificial intelligence technologies to alert communities to natural disasters, including landslides and flooding, under the guidance of Queensland University of Technology and the European Space Agency Phi-Lab.

.SmartSat CRC CEO Andy Koronios hailed Kanyini as a major step forward for the nation's space industry, boosting capabilities and delivering valuable data for applications that benefit South Australians.

Why it matters:

Not only is Kanyini's cutting-edge technology going to help in the early detection of natural disasters, but it will also be useful in developing predictive AI capabilities for mitigating such disasters. Such integration of different organizations clearly indicates that state-of-the-art technology is the key to disaster relief and environmental monitoring.

Bottom line:

With the successful launch of Kanyini, a promising path is founded for South Australia's space sector and places the state at the forefront in innovative technology and data acquisition. State-of-the-art satellite technology places South Australia on high grounds concerning better defense for its environment and citizens against the impacts of natural disasters.