Waratahseed.space

ABOUT

THE MISSION

Waratah Seed is Australia’s first ride-share mission, flying an Australian-built 6U CubeSat which successfully deployed into Sun-synchronous Low Earth Orbit (LEO) from the SpaceX Transporter-11 launch to a 513 km altitude circular Sun-synchronous orbit on the 17th of August 2024.

‍Latest news: the spacecraft is communicating as designed, on-orbit commissioning is beginning now!

Funded by the NSW government through their Space Industry Development program, Waratah Seed’s mission is to deliver space flight qualification opportunities to NSW startup- and industry-led teams, who get to test and prove the function and capability of their novel technologies aboard a 6U CubeSat platform flying to LEO.

This is a historic project focused on developing the NSW space sector and the whole Australian space industry.

MISSION

TIMELINE

T+13

July 2023

Delivery of flight payloads to Waratah Seed team

T+13-14

August 2023

Testing payloads at AITC Mount Stromlo, Canberra, ACT

Complete flight and launch certifications and review

T+22

November 2023

Delivery to launch company

T+23

January 2024

Integration with launch and deployment vehicle begins

Pre-flight operations preparation planning

T+26

Feb 2024

WS-1 spacecraft launched to orbit aboard Space-X Falcon 9 rocket

T+26

Feb 2024

WS-1 communicates with ground

T+26

Feb 2024

On-orbit satellite operations and mission commencement

T+26

Feb 2024

Payloads activated

T+26-32

Feb 2024 - Aug 2024

Operation and demonstration of satellite and payloads in space for six months.

CALL FOR

COMMERCIAL PAYLOADS

If you are a commercial, research or government team looking to qualify your novel space technology in space, Waratah Seed has two pathways for you:

1. We fly your payload: we help you design, build, test, qualify, launch and fly your hardware.
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2. We build and fly your payload for you: we deliver the outcome you are looking for from space qualification.

Just over 1U of payload space is still available for ready-to-fly payloads on the WS-1 mission set for launch in October 2023. Note the window for pre-flight test & integration will close on March 31st, 2023.

We also intend to fly our next mission, WS-2, in late 2024.

Interested? Watch the video below, and contact us using the form at the bottom of the page.

SPONSOR

OUR SPACE MISSION

Green sepia image of Earth from space with Sun shown close to the horizon

Waratah Seed Consortium invites sponsorship enquiries from Australian organisations.

This is an historic opportunity for your brand, product or service to play a key part in an historic Australian space mission!
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Sponsor the overall mission, or connect with a Competition or Commercial Payload team and sponsor their payload.
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Thank you to these leading space organisations for their support of our mission:
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WS-1 Foundation Mission Partner:
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