Advanced Composite Structures Australia (ACS Australia) General Manager Dr Paul Falzon presented at the virtual UK-Australia Space Bridge Science & Technology Roadshow hosted by Austrade on Wednesday 16 June 2021. Presenting on the engineering space programs and international collaborations the team at ACS Australia have been involved in over the past 30 years, and the strong aerospace engineering capabilities the State of Victoria has to offer for the UK-Australia Space bridge framework. This virtual roadshow was part of a series of webinars for states and territories in Australia focusing on the respective space technology and engineering capabilities that make regional comparative advantage. To learn more about the UK-Australia Space Bridge Roadshow please visit the webpage on Austrade.
The UK and Australia Space Bridge Framework Arrangement, was signed into effect on 23 February 2021, which is supported by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade), the Australian Space Agency, the UK Department for International Trade (DIT) and the UK Space Agency (UKSA). The Space Bridge Framework Arrangement focuses on the following areas:
- Government-to-government collaboration on space programs and technology
- Trade and investment, including commercial contracts and collaboration
- Research and education
- Regulations (related to trade)
In case you missed it, we share a short edited recording of Paul Falzon’s presentation below or via this link: https://youtu.be/JCGp1nEUnQU
We look forward to collaborating long into the future with our partners and new organisations in the United Kingdom and here in Australia.
Please contact us today to stay in touch or ask any questions about our space capabilities!
Presentation transcript is as follows:
- So our organisation is one that focuses on delivering competitive advantage to our clients who are seeking transformative change and what I mean by that is we’re basically facilitating that through world leading services and design analysis and optimisation of through the use of proven materials manufacturing solutions in order to achieve low risk adoption of composites and implementing those composites we do that through the work and knowledge we have in the area of maintenance and inspection of these materials and we also have a portfolio of innovative products and processes that we are available for commercialisation
- The way we offer our service is really through a complete capability what we call our product development cycle so from initial design and analysis of the structure through how do we go about manufacturing that structure through the process of producing prototypes then evaluating those prototypes through testing and then that rolling into production for both small and large runs and also transfer of that technology through to the customer as well
- So in terms of the area of space engineering and space manufacturing related activities we’ve been involved in a number of projects or I just want to highlight been involved in a project on the design of composite launcher vehicles so here we’re developing new design approaches which are taking account imperfections which are sensitive to the composite launcher structure itself been involved working with NASA looking at the retrofit of floor beams on their TRACT program which is a standstill transport rotorcraft airframe crash test bed there we ran a project where we we designed a composite floor beam for absorbing of energy including crush elements and this is both designed simulated manufactured then tested in the us we’ve been working on the area of retractable satellite boom so using carbon fibre materials fridges ultra light-weight retractable burns which can be used for things such as CubeSats unable to deployment on instruments communication devices and arrays and we’ve also been working more recently in the area of ultra-high temperature composite materials so here we’re looking at developing materials and manufacturing processes which can be then used in ultra-high temperature applications of up to 2400 degrees Celsius so being used as things such as launch vehicles rocket nozzles nose cones
- Our organisation is located in the Fishermans Bend precinct, Port Melbourne. That precinct has a very long history in aerospace defence and automotive research and development as well as in design engineering and advanced manufacturing there is a strong aerospace presence in the region and as well as that I think our precinct is also very complementary to other advanced manufacturing clusters we know in the sort of south and east of the Poland area we have large manufacturers of automotive and transport equipment companies establishing capability and additive manufacturing in the north we have companies specialised in steel products and specialised machines in the west heavy engineering and pre-fabricated construction and then we’ve got the Geelong we have a centre there specialising in carbon fibre
- I was also asked just to give a bit of a flavour of the international collaboration that takes place in Victoria this is an example of one project called DESICOS coming out of a co-operative research centre as a company we’ve been a partner in a number of international collaborations over the years we’ve been involved in programs such as the European framework projects the office of naval research the US Air Force (USAF) office of scientific research as well as NASA so we are highly experienced in these types of collaborations and partnerships and appreciate the benefits that one can achieve in being involved in such projects and this is an example of one where we were a partner in a three-year EU project which was looking at new robust design guidelines for imperfections sensitive composite launcher vehicles we were involved in that over the three year period had a number of project partners airbus defence in space stealth to a number of universities the DLR and in that project we’re able to develop new methods to design these structures which are previously didn’t cover composite materials so they were traditionally looking at metallic structures
- So that’s my presentation so I’ve loved giving you a flavour of what we do as an organisation what’s taking place in our great state and the opportunities in doing business in Victoria. Thank you