It was an exciting time for space — and science — last week, with the launch of three Australian-built cubesats last Tuesday night coinciding with Cubesat Innovation Workshop 2017 in Sydney on Wednesday and Thursday, which was then followed by the March for Science in cities around the world on Saturday.
A special thanks to Michael, who attended despite having broken his foot the week before!
Managing Director Michael Norris and Regulatory Manager Isobel Carmody attended the Cubesat Innovation Workshop 2017 on behalf of the Melbourne Space Program. The event was insightful and a lot of fun for our team.
“The conference was a great experience,” said Michael. “We got to catch up with a lot of friends in the industry and meet new ones as well. The cubesat community in Australia — and the space community as a whole — is replete with enthusiastic and hardworking people. It was a privilege to be among them, and they were an inspiration to carry on our work with our own cubesat.”
“There was a good turnout to the conference, and we were happy to see that everyone enjoyed our talk as well,” said Isobel. “We were honoured to represent the Melbourne Space Program and we’re looking forward to working more with cubesat groups and space industry partners across Australia.”
The talk, titled “Constructing a Cubesat: A Student Group’s Experience of the Australian Space Sector”, was a hit with the audience!
Isobel noted that, as the conference came to a close, there was already excitement and talk around the International Astronautical Congress 2017 (IAC 2017) happening in Adelaide this September — a conference that brings together the international space community: industry, government and academe.
And the funniest part about the conference? Michael was given the prestigious title of “Rocket Expert” during an interview with 7 News!
Shortly after the Cubesat Innovation Workshop in Sydney, the MSP team prepared to join the March for Science in Melbourne. Although the organizers originally estimated a crowd of about 400 at the event in Melbourne, there ended up being closer to 4,000!
On the left: Lauren Jessup (Engineering Manager), Andrew Wetherell (Finance Manager) and Megan Toomey (Operations Manager) in Melbourne. On the right: Michael Norris (Managing Director) in Sydney.
There were representatives from Friends of CSIRO, Royal Society of Victoria, the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) and much more. Speakers in Melbourne included Nobel Laureate Professor Peter Doherty, Uncle Ron Jones, Upulie Divisekera (PhD), Prof Barry Jones, Dr Penny Whetton, Prof Fiona Stanley, Professor Terry Speed and Dr Sherry Mayo.
With our MD Michael still in Sydney at the time, we were proud to represent MSP in both Melbourne and Sydney.