New $180 million space Trailblazer to hold official launch

The new iLaunch (Innovative Launch, Automation, Novel Materials, Communications, and Hypersonics) Trailblazer, linking three universities with private businesses to commercialise space-oriented R&D, will be launched by federal assistant education minister Anthony Chisholm on Thursday. The Trailblazer initiative was part of the previous federal government’s efforts to increase commercial returns from university research, and was awarded…

Hypersonix and SoMAC CRC aim for high temperature materials

Hypersonic vehicle developer Hypersonix Launch Systems and the Sovereign Manufacturing Automation for Composites Cooperative Research Centre (SoMAC CRC) have joined forces to tackle one of the big issues facing hypersonic flight – high temperature material integration. Hypersonic vehicles that travel at least five times faster than the speed of sound require materials that can withstand…