On 19 December 2021 the Winners of the Waratah Seed WS-1 Payload Competition were announced at an Awards event at the National Space Industry Hub.

The Hon. Gabrielle Upton (Federal Member for Vaucluse), Prof. Iver Cairns (Director of Waratah Seed and CUAVA) and Aidan O’Brien (representing Jason Held for the Wolfpack Space Hub and Waratah Seed partners, Saber Astronautics), spoke to assembled space industry guests, Waratah Seed consortium members and payload team members, and announced the winning teams.

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Five innovative NSW Space Tech payloads will ride onboard Australia’s first satellite ride-share mission, the Waratah Seed WS-1 cubesat.

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After careful consideration of the applications, the WS-1 Payload Competition judging panel decided to award three prizes instead of five, with the competition results too close to call in a highly competitive field.

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Joint First Prize was awarded to
EurokaPower, for their next generation radiation-tolerant perovskite solar cell technology, and
Spiral Blue, for an innovative space-edge computing solution for in-orbit image processing, which will deliver near real-time earth observation data.

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Joint Second Prize was awarded to;
Extraterrestrial Power, for their highly efficient silicone solar cells technology, and
Sperospace, who will launch a robotic arm with tactile gripping which can be used for in-orbit satellite repairs.

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and last but not least, the Third Prize was awarded to;
Dandelions, for testing of new materials including hemp, to assess their heat resistance and viability as an alternative to carbon fibre.

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Waratah Seed Consortium congratulates all our winners, and we look forward to working with the payload teams in 2022!

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Guests included Australia's first astronaut, Paul Scully-Power, Trent Goldsack from Northrop Grumman, Mike Pilawa of the CSIRO, Chris Janssen from GPC Electronics, Murray Parkinson from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), Robert Fitch from the NSW Space Research Network, Josh Dalgoy from the office of the Federal Minister for Defence, Industry, Science & Technology the Hon. Melissa Price, Mike Gallagher from Investment NSW, David Dall from the Dept of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (AWE) and Phil Loch from Raytheon.

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