Brisbane start-up company, Valiant Space, will see a component from their new rocket thruster blast into orbit onboard a SpaceX mission at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, next month.
Valiant co-founder and CEO, 24-year-old Andrew Uscinski, said one of the challenges for new businesses in the space industry was the need to validate your product, by successfully launching it into space.
“We’ve developed Australia’s first in-space chemical thruster for satellites made with non-toxic propellants, and right now our focus is proving it can withstand orbit,” Mr Uscinski said.
Valiant co-founder and CEO, 24-year-old Andrew Uscinski, said one of the challenges for new businesses in the space industry was the need to validate your product, by successfully launching it into space.
“We’ve developed Australia’s first in-space chemical thruster for satellites made with non-toxic propellants, and right now our focus is proving it can withstand orbit,” Mr Uscinski said.
The first step in this validation process will occur on a valve that is an integral part of Valiant’s thruster, which will be sent into orbit with SpaceX on board Australian space services company Skykraft’s rideshare service.
Once the valve demonstrates it can survive a violent launch, 6g gravitational force, extreme vibrational pressures, and a wide range of temperatures on its journey into space, Valiant Space’s full thruster will be launched on a subsequent orbital mission in mid-2023.
Valiant’s team of three, consisting of Mr Uscinski, fellow co-founder and Chief Technical Officer, Mr Michael Douw (pictured below, left), and Mr Benjamin Dodd (below, right), are mechanical and aerospace engineers who met at The University of Queensland and started their company while they were students.
The three are keen pilots and were drawn together by their shared passion for flying and building rockets.
“Valiant’s vision is to build the rocket engines that will take humanity to other planets,” Mr Uscinski.
“We really see ourselves as a space transportation solutions provider.”
The Valiant team identified a gap in the market for space propulsion options that use non-toxic propellants.
“Existing options are made from very carcinogenic and difficult to handle chemicals which makes them very expensive because of all the development costs,” Mr Uscinski said.
“Our thruster runs on nitrous oxide and propane – like what you would use in a barbeque, but slightly purer – which gives a comparable performance to the toxic options, but without the need for high-cost handling infrastructure.
“Our solutions will save money at every step of the mission lifecycle, by leveraging a simplified design, rapid manufacturing methods and low-cost propellants.”
The thruster is mounted on the spacecraft to provide the main propulsion system for the satellite and enables companies to perform fast acting orbit raising and collision avoidance manoeuvres.
“It means satellites can come online quickly, and they stay in their optimal orbit and last longer in space,” Mr Uscinski said.
“We build the thrusters to begin with and then, when we work with a satellite company, we help them design the rest of the components – like fuel tanks and oxygen tanks.”
Valiant Space recently secured $750,000 funding from the Australian Government’s Moon to Mars Initiative supply chain grant, administered by the Australian Space Agency.
The team previously won a Moon to Mars Initiative demonstrator feasibility grant in 2021, to mature their non-toxic thruster technology.
“The first grant helped us to prototype and test our product, which has been instrumental in gaining market traction and momentum,” Mr Uscinski said.
“With this second grant, we will be getting flight validation on our product, build the supply chain, and upscale our propulsion technologies to domestic and international customers.”
The thrusters are 3D printed and almost entirely Australian-made.
“3D printing allows us to really rapidly produce our thrusters and we can make complex shapes without increasing the cost of production.”
The Valiant Space team is based at the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Hub workshop in Northgate, Brisbane.
“We’ve been at ARM Hub since November 2020 – we were one of their first tenants,” Mr Uscinski said.
“ARM Hub offered us flexibility in leasing, which is fantastic for start-ups, and they have such a large warehouse that has allowed us to expand out as needed.
“The staff at ARM Hub have helped enormously by identifying funding opportunities and helping us write our first successful Moon to Mars grant.
“They’ve also helped us gain exposure to a variety of people, including potential investors and Ministers and MPs.”
ARM Hub is funded by the Queensland Government; QUT; CSIRO; Urban Arts Project; and Innovation Manufacturing CRC.
Having established themselves and their technology at ARM Hub, and with an injection of new funding, Valiant Space are employing an electrical engineer to join their team and looking to upscale their operations.
Mr Uscinski said the growth of the space industry in Australia over the past year has been “quite dramatic”.
“I think the formation of the Australian Space Agency, which only happened in 2017, provided certainty for industry, and there has been a real focus by state and federal governments on the space industry playing an important part for Australia’s future.
“The groundwork has been set for new companies like ours, who can execute on our vision without as much adversity like capital intensity and lack of local resources and talent.
“In Queensland there is an active space hub forming, particularly in advanced propulsion and launch, and Valiant is excited to contribute to the ecosystem.”
Mr Uscinski advised any students who are interested in the space industry to look for opportunities to get involved in extra-curricular opportunities.
“Put yourself out there and don’t be afraid of taking on big challenges, even if you don’t know how you are going to solve certain problems.”
More information: Mr Andrew Uscinski, Valiant Space. E: andrew@valiantspace.com
Images for media: Via DropBox