Space

Dedicated Space Situational Awareness (SSA) infrastructure is essential for tracking and characterising objects in orbit, but remains expensive to install and maintain. Weather radars present a promising, cost-effective alternative. This project explores the potential of repurposing the existing Buckland Park Stratosphere-Troposphere (BPST) weather radar for low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite surveillance. As a foundational step towards enabling machine learning based analyses of orbital objects, this work focuses on the critical data pre-processing stage. A modular and scalable software pipeline has been developed to systematically transform raw radar data into analysis-ready spectrograms, enabling future projects to explore the use of machine learning for object detection and the characterisation of objects in LEO.

Project by:

• Abdullah Tahir
• Michael Neill

The Moon’s surface is covered in a loose, dusty material called lunar regolith, which makes it difficult to build stable roads and structures. For NASA’s Artemis mission, astronauts will need strong and compact ground to safely construct buildings and landing areas. This project investigates the most effective vibrating drum roller for compacting lunar regolith. The roller’s performance depends on three main factors: its movement speed, weight, and vibration frequency. By studying how these factors influence compaction in the Moon’s low gravity, we can identify the best combination for creating a firm and reliable surface. The findings will help guide the design of equipment that can prepare stable construction areas on the Moon, supporting NASA’s goal of establishing a long-term human presence in space.

Project by:

• Ethan Baylas 
• Hasan Mahir 
• Isaac Raggatt 
• James Schirripa 
• Jared Casimiro 

What if the secrets of the solar system and the origins of life were locked inside tiny, rocky asteroids? Exploring them is no simple task. Their low-gravity and rough terrain present difficulties for traditional wheeled rovers, requiring innovative solutions. Our project explored a bio-inspired approach to asteroid exploration using microspines – tiny hooks that can latch onto uneven surfaces. Leveraging this technology, we designed and built a controllable quadruped robotic system that enabled reliable adhesion and movement across rough terrain. The robot was successfully tested on asteroid-like surfaces, demonstrating stable attachment and precise remote control. By combining microspine technology with a versatile robotic platform, our work showcases a promising approach for navigating microgravity environments, enabling more agile asteroid exploration in future missions.

Project by:

• Hamish Whittaker 
• Jimmy Luo 
• Lachlan Napier 
• Liam Golledge 
• Matthew Parker 
• Parsa Akhavan Mofrad 

The growing number of satellites in orbit has led to overcrowded radio-frequency (RF) allocations and rising demand for high-speed, high-bandwidth communication. Laser-based Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) offers a solution, providing high-speed links without RF allocation limits. However, the directional nature of lasers makes scaling to multi-satellite networks challenging.

This project aims to develop a system to steer a laser across a 40°+ field of view using computer vision to identify targets and a dual-prism mechanism designed to steer the laser beam to the desired location. By using ray-tracing simulations and inverse-kinematic calculations, the system translates motor and actuator movements into precise beam steering. The work builds on an inherited mechanical design, with initial efforts focused on the operation of the system, then developing a control codebase to target identified communication nodes.

Project by:

• Siavash Tabatabaei 
• Max Walters 

Our project investigates biophotons—extremely weak flashes of light naturally emitted by living organisms. Although known for decades, their origin and biological significance remain unclear. Studying these tiny signals is challenging because they are difficult to measure and experiments are often hard to reproduce.

To address this, we apply methods and instruments from physics: we use highly sensitive photomultiplier tubes, typically employed in particle and astrophysics, to detect and quantify these faint emissions. By carefully calibrating our detectors and controlling experimental conditions, we ensure that the measured light comes from the seeds and not from background noise.

Our goal is to rigorously test previous reports of biophoton emission during lentil seed germination and evaluate their reliability. This approach bridges physics and biology, providing a solid foundation for potential applications in plant health monitoring, early disease detection, and non-invasive diagnostics.

Project by:

• Qiaoyu Han

Burrowing on the moon is not easy. Current drills are bulky, heavy, and struggle in the Moons dusty low-gravity environment. Inspired by how moles and worms move effortlessly underground on Earth, this project explores smarter ways to reach beneath the lunar surface. The aim is to develop a small lightweight robot that mimics natural burrowing methods, finding effective and efficient ways to burrow beneath the Moons surface for future space missions. The team conducted an exploration into natures best burrowers, designing multiple burrowing mechanisms using Computer Aided Design and 3D printing, and then testing them in lunar regolith to identify the best robot to build for burrowing. Multiple testing systems, burrowing mechanisms, and prototype robots have been developed to further understand burrowing on the Moon. This will pave the way for future research and discovering what lies beneath the Moons surface.

Project by:

• Connar Gossink 
• Thomas Hick 
• Isaac Gasparini 
• Jonty Pretorius 
• Joshua Loxton 
• William Hentschke 

What if there was a way to completely understand spaces, by just considering their symmetries?

One way to do this is to consider the group of angle preserving transformations. Riemannian manifolds with essential conformal group are isomorphic to either a sphere or flat space.

A metric on a manifold gives a natural way to define a notion of distance and angles between vectors. If we retain only the idea of angle and drop the idea of length, then we are left with a conformal manifold.

Are there angle preserving transformations that are not distance preserving? In the Riemannian case this is the Lichnerowicz conjecture and places strong constraints on the space. In the pseudo-Riemannian case the answer is not known and is the subject of the generalised Lichnerowicz conjecture.

We give a description of conformal transformations in the local case and on the sphere, the so-called 'flat model' of conformal geometry.

Project by: Dylan Holland

With the growing interest in human space exploration, understanding how microgravity affects cell behaviour is critical. Most biological experiments currently rely on the International Space Station or custom CubeSats, which are costly, commercially inaccessible, and limits experiment frequency and repeatability. Our payload, Alvea, presents a proof-of-concept CubeSat payload module designed to perform in situ microbiological experiments using microfluidics in microgravity. Alvea offers a more accessible, cost effective and standardised platform, aiming to accelerate research in microgravity and enable consistent, repeatable studies. A prototype has been manufactured and rigorously tested under simulated launch and space conditions, including vibration loads and vacuum exposure, before demonstrating its capabilities through its high altitude launch onboard the University’s rocketry team vehicle. By lowering accessibility barriers to small scale microgravity experimentation, Alvea provides a capability for more frequent, affordable and impactful research in space. 

Project by:

• Lily Dunstone 
• Hayley-Jay Corns 
• Hanna Worrell 

Lunar exploration is a challenging endeavour. Not only are there difficulties regarding atmospheric and gravitational conditions, but the surface is covered with regolith: bedrock and asteroid fragments ranging in size from sand to boulders. Typically, wheeled rovers can struggle to traverse this terrain due to the wheels getting stuck or bogged. Our project aims to combat this issue by developing a new movement system; a robot called FLIK utilising wheel-leg combinations called ‘whegs’. These whegs can both roll like wheels and step like legs, giving greater adaptability to the environment.

This year, we worked on developing the software to increase functionality, improving the physical components to decrease mass and increase manoeuvrability, and developing protections against the conditions of the moon. The result? A rover that can explore more of the Moon than before, aiding future missions to discover more about its resources and potential.

Project by: 

• Elise Blomberg 
• Matthew D'Achille 
• Matthew Lin 
• Jacob Newman 
• Daniel Rogers 

For future long-term manned missions to the Moon, resources like water will be necessary. Transporting water from Earth is costly and difficult, fortunately the Moon has an abundance of water, existing as ice that sits inside permanently shaded craters. Ordinary drills struggle in the lunar environment due to the low gravity adding another challenge, our design takes inspiration from things that dig and bore in nature and we are working on a drill bit design that hopefully should outperform conventional methods.

The drill bit works my having two digging 'teeth' slide up and down past one another in a dual-reciprocating motion to bore into soil and rock. Variations to the surface of these teeth are tested; smooth, ridges of different sizes, addition grooves, etc, in order to find one that works best.

Project by: Matthew Nobile

Can a robot pick a peck of pickled peppers? With astronauts soon establishing off-Earth habitation, they will need to grow fresh, nutrient dense foods. However, with busy schedules and the risk of introducing diseases, alternative systems to pick and sample plant life will be needed. Soft robots can be controlled remotely and provide the manoeuvrability and delicacy required for handling plant life. In partnership with ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space, the project aimed to develop a soft robotic system to sample plant life in a controlled environment vertical farm. The design process involved iterative prototyping of a robotic body, and the development of remote-control capabilities through systems engineering methodologies. Ultimately, a soft robotic arm capable of sampling vegetation has been built and integrated into a vertical farm. The system provides a robust foundation of soft robotics in space agriculture, and will guide future iterations of the project.

Project by:

• Charlotte Bampton 
• Annja Haywood 
• Alicia Shotton 

Communication delays between Earth and space limit remote control from ground stations, forcing astronauts to undertake hazardous tasks such as performing repairs in the vacuum of space, yet these space missions are challenging and pose a risk to the crew's safety. We propose a shadow robot system that enables robotic arms to mimic an operator’s movements in real-time, allowing for intuitive control from a distance, reducing human risk.

The system uses wearable sensors attached to the operator’s arm to capture motion data, which is then processed to determine arm orientations and joint angles. These angles are then translated into corresponding robotic joint angles to help ensure accurate, precise and fast mirroring of human movements. A feedback-loop control system then drives the robot’s joints to match the operator’s actions, actuating the arms. This technology could transform future space operations, enabling operators to control robotic arms simply by moving their arms.

Project by: 

• Mitchell Miller 
• Nikita Rychkov 
• Jeffrey Chen 

The study of cosmic rays has been a growing area of research in astrophysics since their discovery, over a century ago. A particularly interesting aspect of this research is the so-called “knee” feature in the cosmic ray energy spectrum, where the energy flux suddenly steepens. This project explores the different objects that may be responsible for these ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, from sources known as PeVatrons. Specifically, the very bright emitter HESSJ1908. Since these cosmic rays produce gamma rays, data from gamma ray detectors, along with catalogued objects such as supernovae and molecular clouds are used to produce models of particle acceleration for different scenarios to study what objects could produce these cosmic rays.  

Project by: Cherie Puckey

Our planet relies on energy, and so do things we send into space, like satellites. But in space, it's tricky because the sun isn't always shining on the solar panels. This means we need a smart way to manage power. Our project built a power-switching device that acts like a traffic controller for power management.

We researched existing technology and then designed our own "power traffic controller," running computer simulations to test our ideas while aiming to waste as little energy as possible. After that, we built and tested a prototype, then refined our design to create a more efficient version.

The outcome of this project is a tested and optimised design that proves it can meet our high efficiency goals. This successful work provides a powerful foundation for future development, with the ultimate aim of integrating our system into satellites for upcoming space missions.

Project by:

• Joshua Paice 
• Andrea Arokiaraj Sagayam 
• Charles Bennett 
• Shane Chieng 

This project explores the mysterious “dark matter,” a hidden type of matter that makes up most of the universe but cannot be seen directly. Scientists believe it exists because of the effects it has on normal matter, but until recently there has been no strong proof of its existence. An experiment called DAMA/LIBRA has claimed to find some evidence of dark matter. In this project, we use a method called a chi-square fit to study the data from the experiment. This method helps compare the measurements with what would be expected if dark matter is really present. By analyzing the data in this way, we can determine if it aligns with theoretical expectations for dark matter.

Project by: Khem Niroula

Can a single camera help a robot navigate the vastness of space? This research explores using a single, lightweight camera to create accurate 3D models of satellites in the harsh conditions of outer space, where traditional sensors like LiDAR are too expensive and resource intensive. The project aims to adapt the state-of-the-art 3D reconstruction model, DUST3R, for reliable use in the unique space environment. The project aims in retraining the neural network from the synthetic dataset obtained from advanced space simulation tools and other 3D modelling tools, mimicking challenges such as extreme lighting and sparse textures. The findings will help improve autonomous space missions, including satellite inspection and debris monitoring, ultimately making space exploration safer and more efficient.

Project by: Edwin Jose George

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detects tiny ripples in space-time caused by extremely energetic events in the universe, called gravitational waves. This relies on the measuring the interference of light to extreme precision. Recently, research conducted within OzGrav noticed an unexpected effect: that light spread out differently depending on its polarisation. According to the usual rules of diffraction, this should not happen.

My project aimed to validate the measurement system used to see if this effect is real. I repeated the measurements to see if I saw any changes overtime before investigating this further. One possible explanation is conducting material that the light interacted with could have influenced it. Repeating the measurements with non-conducting apertures would test this theory, potentially leading to interesting conclusions about the interactions of light within an apparatus.

Project by: Denis Lulaj

Given a space or shape, what happens if we forget about the idea of lengths, and care only that the angles everywhere stay the same? Transforming something in this way is called a "conformal transformation" - a famous example being the Mercator projection, which transforms the sphere that is our Earth onto a flat map in a way that length and area are distorted, but angles remain the same.

My project investigates conformal transformations of Einstein spaces. Einstein spaces are a nice generalisation of spaces which are curved the same way everywhere (spaces of constant sectional curvature). They are called Einstein as they play an important role in the physics of general relativity. Our research is focused on studying Einstein spaces which can be conformally transformed into another, different, Einstein space.

Project by: Harrison Greven

Dark matter is a mysterious substance that has been at the forefront of Physics research for decades. Around 25% of our universe is made of dark matter, yet we know almost nothing about it except that it exists and interacts with other matter through gravitational forces. With a variety of candidates for what dark matter could be and various techniques to detect it, we will be investigating the impact of dark matter on Jupiter-like planets. This will allow us to precisely predict the 'evaporation' mass of dark matter by using mathematical simulations. The results from these calculations can then be compared to other predictions made from other methods to increase our knowledge of dark matter.

Project by: Darcy Goldfinch

As satellites get smaller, traditional propulsion systems start to look oversized and inefficient. For small scale satellites, such as cube-sats, we need propulsion that is tiny, precise, and efficient. One promising candidate is an electrospray thruster using ionic liquid as a propellant.

Our project set out to investigate whether a nano-scale thruster using ionic liquid would be a feasible propulsion system for a unit such as a cube-sat. To do this, we used two approaches: analytical modelling, which helps predict thrust performance using numerical methods, and finite element simulations, which allow us to visualise the ion behaviour and Taylor Cone formation.

By combining theory and simulation, we explored how much thrust such a system could generate and assessed it’s feasibility at a nano-scale. This brings us one step closer to ultra-compact propulsion for the next generation of satellites.

Project by:

• Reilly Hollamby 
• Tamara Burling 

Exploring other planets is an exciting idea, but one big challenge is understanding what the ground is like. On Earth, engineers use tools like cone penetrometers and shear devices to test the strength of soil. These tools work well here, but on the Moon or Mars the environment is very different – the air pressure is much lower, almost like a vacuum. This might change how the soil behaves and how reliable our tests are.

My project looks at how these tools perform under low-pressure conditions, similar to what we’d find in space. To do this, I tested “extra-terrestrial soil simulants” – special materials made to act like Moon or Mars soil – while changing the air pressure around them.

The results will help scientists and engineers design better equipment for future space missions. This means we can be more confident about landing safely and building strong structures beyond Earth.

Project by:

Alex Wang 
Haokang Wang 
Jordan Ayre 

Space agencies worldwide are planning a return to the moon within the next 20 years with plans for a permanent settlement. A lunar base will require infrastructure including roads, berms, and walls. Due to the high resource cost of transporting material to the moon, in-situ resource utilisation (ISRU) technology will be required to manufacture the building blocks for this infrastructure. One possible ISRU technology is to utilise the soil available on the moon, known as lunar regolith. Our project investigates the feasibility of casting molten lunar regolith into bricks through an initial prototyping system. We have investigated the geological and fluid dynamic properties of molten lunar regolith and characterised the requirements for a casting system. These theoretical findings informed the design of low temperature prototypes of system elements, paving the foundations for future research in this domain.

Project by:

• Jesse Stevens 
• Nicola Lieff 
• Kaelyn Lau