• Fleet Space Technologies part of a consortium that will lead Australia’s contribution to forthcoming moon and mars missions
• Fleet bids for Australian Government Trailblazer grant which funds the development of lunar rovers and associated technologies
• The Seven Sisters is an initiative to discover abundant resources for humanity’s exploration of space through the implementation of world-leading surface exploration and construction technologies

“We are proud to be part of one of the world’s great centres of excellence for the development of leading space exploration technologies. Involvement in endeavours like the Seven Sisters Project and its bold mission to support NASA’s ground-breaking moon and Mars missions are vital to growing a sector of increasing strategic importance for our nation. Grants like the Trailblazer enable innovation and national collaboration and we are delighted to submit our bid to be part of a truly historic mission with benefits around the globe and at home in Australia.”

Flavia Tata Nardini, CEO and Co-Founder, Fleet Space Technologies

Fleet Space Technologies is standing with some of Australia and the world’s leading space and non-space organisations in a bid to further exploration of the Moon, Mars and the Earth.

The Seven Sisters is an initiative to discover abundant resources for humanity’s exploration of space through the implementation of world-leading surface exploration and construction technologies developed within Australia’s rapidly expanding Space sector.

The ultimate purpose is to enable humanity’s exploration of new worlds. The Seven Sisters initiative represents a truly global collaboration. NASA intends to fly the rover to the lunar surface provided it meets a range of conditions during this phase of the collaboration. It is expected to launch in 2026.

PARTNERS IN INNOVATION

Fleet Space is part of a dream consortium by establishing strategic partnerships with true leaders in their respective fields. This collective brings together highly specialised space industry competence from iSpace and Q-CTRL while drawing from best-in-class academic expertise from the University of Adelaide, Australian Institute for Machine Learning, Andy Thomas Centre for Space Resources, Monash University, University of Sydney’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics and OZ Minerals among a number of other names across space, technology and aerospace innovation form part of the consortium. Microsoft also will play a role as supporting a partner.

THE AUSTRALIAN SPACE INDUSTRY AND THE TRAILBLAZER GRANT

Fleet leads Australia’s rapidly growing space sector – an industry of key strategic importance to the development of the Australian economy. Indeed, the Australia Space Agency stated aim is to contribute $12billion (AUS) to the economy by 2030. This is underpinned by significant strategic support at a Federal and State level.

Fleet is seeking to draw upon this strategic support through the bidding process for the Trailblazer Programme, which will provide federal funding for the Moon to Mars initiative. Its purpose is to raise funding to leverage and diversify Australia’s world leading remote operations skills and experience by developing new foundation services capabilities, encouraging investment and opportunities in the Australian space sector. Fleet is leading the consortium response and has engaged professional services firm, PwC Australia, to provide its financial and consulting capabilities.

This competitive grant opportunity provides up to $4million (AUS) in essential funding for the development of foundation services rover solutions through early mission phases to Preliminary Design Review (PDR). This benefits Australian industry in enhancing supply chain capability through the development of new sovereign technologies, enabling companies like Fleet to develop demonstrators that showcase Australian innovation on the global stage while supporting Australia’s involvement in the NASA mission to return to the Moon and launch the first missions to Mars.

Fleet is one of Australia’s fastest growing technology exports. The company just completed a significantly oversubscribed funding round, securing investment domestically and from key funds in the United States. This has led to the development of the company’s first international HQ in Houston, Texas, a place in direct proximity to NASA, the world’s largest space agency.