University of Tasmania Space

(3/3) The echo of the radar signal bouncing off the asteroid was detected loud and clear by the UTAS antenna at Ceduna. This upgrade paves the way for new solar system exploration and strengthens #PlanetaryDefense capabilities #space

(2/3) On Saturday, the Ceduna antenna teamed up with NASA/JPL/CSIRO to track asteroid 2024-MK during its closest approach. The 150m rock came within 300,000 kilometres of Earth – that’s three-quarters of the distance to the moon!

(1/3) In June, the UTAS research team upgraded its largest dish, the Ceduna 30-metre radio telescope. Located in South Australia, the antenna is key for astronomy and planetary spacecraft tracking.

Graduations are always special events🎇 Even more so when you get to celebrate with people you have worked closely with for many years. Congratulations Dr Kumar aka @jayender_singh

We're excited to be part of the Kids in Space Education Programme being run by @MakersEmpire and @AusSpaceAgency. Teachers professional development days for Tasmania are at the @GroteReber in May. makersempire.com/2024-kids-in-s…

Congratulations to our friends at @Int_Machines on their successful launch last week and we're wishing them well as they attempt the first successful commercial lunar landing with Odysseus. tinyurl.com/46ex2ysf

It’s hard to believe that it was a year ago that we had the opening of the Tasmanian 7.3-meter tracking station. So many things have happened since then!

First interferometric fringes to the @AuScopeVLBI Yarragadee 12m antenna at 6.7 GHz! What does that mean? Great opportunities and capability for geodesy and astronomy. Thanks to Brett, Jamie, Lucas, Warren, Lucia, Jim, Mark and many, many others

Congratulations to Michele Trenti and the @UniMelb team on the successful launch of SpIRIT on Saturday. We're looking forward to providing some of the ground support for this historical Australian mission. unimelb.edu.au/newsroom/news/…

It was great to experience Nihonbashi Space week and to talk satellite communications and space domain awareness with Japanese friends. The @JAXA_en lunar rover is amazing. #Japan #Space #UTas

Don’t Look Up! Final day of the Australian Space Domain Awareness conference at @UNSW Canberra. @UTAS_ Guifré Molera Calvés on the panel for a very interesting discussion on detecting near-earth asteroids.

Catchy news headlines and good publicity for a funeral home, but I hope that most people realise that turning their loved ones into part of our growing space junk problem is not a great way to honour them. 9news.com.au/national/space…

Mars is on the opposite side of the Sun from the Earth at the moment, and we are using the opportunity to study the environment near the Sun (solar corona) by observing the radio signal from Mars Express. esa.int/Science_Explor…

Celebrating success in the recent @arc_gov_au Discovery Projects. Congratulations to our successful teams, @aacole42/Jean-Philippe Beaulieu "Lifting the Veil on Cold Planets in the Inner Galaxy" & @blackholejets "Cosmic powerhouses: The birth, death, & legacy of black hole jets".

Why is doing stuff in space so hard? 😓Its remote and extreme conditions are beyond anything we experience here on Earth. But Australia’s scale and range of environments from Antarctic to our deserts is a great training ground

When @NASA's @MissionToPsyche launched early on Saturday morning Australian time, the @UTAS_ antennas in Hobart were ready to support the critical payload separation. Check out from about 1:52 in the video youtu.be/npIDMxrzm_o

The Australian-made SpIRIT nanosatellite is beginning its journey to orbit after it passed tests to verify its performance. @UTAS_ Space will provide ground support to the SpIRIT mission through our new ground station, Katherine. tiny.cc/SpIRIT

Sunset at Ceduna Observatory, from the control room roof. 📸 Brett Reid