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Silentium Defence secures $3.2m contract for ADF space domain awareness capability

Stephen Kuper
Silentium Defence secures $3.2m contract for ADF space domain awareness capability

Adelaide-based Silentium Defence has secured a $3.2 million contract from the Australian Department of Defence to further advance, deploy and demonstrate its MAVERICK S-series passive radar system for space domain awareness.

Designed and developed in Australia, the MAVERICK S-series is the first commercial-scale passive radar system for surveillance of space and will provide persistent detection and tracking of objects in low-Earth orbit (LEO) to support space traffic management functions such as catalogue updates.

Dr James Palmer, CEO of Silentium Defence, said, “Defence recognises the risk posed by the increasingly congested and contested space domain.

Powerful but low-power, accurate and agile, the MAVERICK S-series passive radar delivers a transformative capability for the Australian Defence Force and its allies. With no spectrum allocation required to operate, it can detect and track objects in LEO regardless of weather, visibility or time of day.

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“Safe and assured access to this critical domain is predicated on availability of high-quality, real-time data to inform decision making. That is what the MAVERICK S-series will deliver, and we’re delighted to further advance the system using local skills and local technology with support and input from Defence,” Dr Palmer explained.

Silentium Defence is a global leader in the design and deployment of complex passive surveillance radar systems for high-end customers.

The Silentium Defence MAVERICK S-series system is the world’s first commercial-scale passive radar for space situational awareness (SSA) and addresses demand for high-performance sensor systems in the US$1.44 billion global SSA market.

The combined data from both systems will allow for more effective detection and tracking of current ‘known’ objects in orbit, as well as capability for orbital prediction on newly detected objects. This ability helps address the gap in local and international object cataloguing for safe and sustainable use of space.

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International partner the Swedish Space Corporation will combine observations from its northern hemisphere location to complement southern hemisphere detections and assist with more effective, continuous object tracking across a wider arc of space.

Works are due to commence on the observatory by September 2020 with a target date for completion, operation and data collection beginning in July 2021.

As an Australian owned and operated small to medium enterprise (SME), Silentium provides the products and solutions that deliver improved situational awareness and increase survivability for Australia’s defence forces, its allies and civil surveillance customers.

The company’s unique products allow customers to detect without compromise and act with confidence.

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