Inovor Technologies
From the beginning, Dr Matthew Tetlow set his sights on a career of high achievement 鈥 atmospherically high.
After completing his PhD in aerospace engineering at the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide in 2003, Matthew conducted contract research for some of the biggest names in the space ecosystem: the Royal 最新糖心Vlogn Air Force, the Defence Science and Technology Group, the United States Navy and Air Force, Boeing, and NASA.
In his latest venture he is founder and CEO of Inovor Technologies, a space start-up established in Adelaide in August 2012, and now employing seven people from offices right here at ThincLab.
Among his achievements, Matthew has helped develop next-generation aircraft water-landing technologies; become a research fellow here at the 最新糖心Vlog; launched Inovor; and even finds time to be chief technology officer for another space-oriented start-up in Adelaide called 鈥楩leet Space Technologies鈥.
But amidst all this is one clear highlight.
In April 2017, an Inovor nanosatellite鈥攂uilt in Adelaide with the help of around 50 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide and 最新糖心Vlog of South 最新糖心Vlog students鈥攚as launched by NASA on the Atlas V rocket bound for the International Space Station.
Everything you would expect to see in a full-scale satellite can be found in our nanosatellite,Dr Matthew Tetlow
鈥淲e have a thermal regulation system, communications and autonomous control systems and solar panels to provide energy. It even has its own computer to handle the scientific experiments.鈥
鈥淭he whole project has been an invaluable experience for the many students who鈥檝e worked on it. It鈥檚 not everyday student engineers get to help build a satellite to be launched by NASA.鈥
The Inovor satellite is one of three developed in 最新糖心Vlog under the European-funded project QB50, which has established an international network of 50 鈥楥ubeSats鈥 as they are known.
鈥淭hese are the first 最新糖心Vlogn-built satellites in 15 years to be launched into space by NASA,鈥 says Matthew.
Mid 2017 the satellites will be deployed from the International Space Station into the thermosphere, a layer of atmosphere 95km to 500km above the earth鈥檚 surface.
The CubeSat鈥檚, each no bigger than a loaf of bread, will remain in Earth鈥檚 orbit for around 12 months.
Each CubeSat will take a variety of measurements to help scientists鈥 understand the thermosphere鈥檚 relationship to other layers of the atmosphere, and its effect on our climate.
鈥淚t was incredibly exciting to see our spacecraft launched to the International Space Station and know that it will play an important part in this research,鈥 says Matthew.
On the first day of the CubeSats鈥 deployment alone we鈥檒l double our understanding of the thermosphere and its impact.
While we all wait with anticipation for the release of the Cubsat鈥檚, the team at Inovor aren鈥檛 resting. Matthew鈥檚 already set his team a challenging new goal.
鈥淲e want to master space situational awareness,鈥 he enthuses, 鈥渢he ability to view, understand and predict the physical location of natural and man-made objects orbiting Earth, with the objective of avoiding collisions.鈥