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What is the Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants?
The Australian Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants is a program to help Australian businesses to build capacity to deliver products and services into domestic and/or international space industry supply chains that could support Moon to Mars activities.
Background
The Australian Moon to Mars Initiative forms an important element of the Advancing Space: Australian Civil Space Strategy 2019-2028 and supports Australian businesses and researchers to join NASA’s inspirational endeavour to go forward to the Moon and then go on to Mars.
The Australian Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants support Australian businesses with domestic or international supply chain opportunities by providing grant funds for building their capacity, skills and capabilities.
The Initiative has three elements:
- Supply Chain program: supporting Australian industry to deliver products and services into domestic and international space supply chains through two components:
- Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants
- Supply Chain Facilitation
- Demonstrator program: demonstrator and pilot projects that showcase Australia’s strengths to the world
- Trailblazer program: a major project supporting NASA’s activities to return to the moon and on to Mars.
Objectives
The objectives of the Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants are to:
- grow Australian industry’s capability and capacity to support NASA’s endeavour to go forward to the Moon and then on to Mars
- grow the participation of Australian companies in domestic and/or international space supply chains that could support Moon to Mars activities
- grow the skills, capabilities and capacity of the Australian space industry.
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Funding
Grants from $250,000 up to $1 million to fund up to 75 per cent of eligible project expenditure.
Eligible Projects
To be eligible your project must:
- be aimed at accessing an identified domestic and/or international supply chain opportunity that has the ability to support Moon to Mars activities
- align with priorities in the Australian Civil Space Strategy 2019-28
- have at least $333,334 in eligible expenditure (based on a minimum grant of $250,000).
Eligible activities must directly contribute to project outcomes and include, but are not limited to:
- buying, leasing, constructing, installing or commissioning capital equipment, including specialist software to enhance cyber security design to required levels
- non-recurring engineering associated with improving or qualifying a product, process or service to reach the standard of a supplier for a domestic and/or international space company
- non-recurring engineering associated with improving or qualifying a product, process or service from an adjacent industry to support the space industry
- building organisational capability or capacity to support engagement in international supply chains
- engineering and commissioning activities
- workforce training and accreditations.
Eligible Applicants
To be eligible you must:
- have an Australian business number (ABN)
- be registered for the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
- be an entity incorporated in Australia and a trading corporation, where your trading activities
- form a sufficiently significant proportion of the corporation’s overall activities as to merit it being described as a trading corporation; or
- are a substantial and not merely peripheral activity of the corporation
We can only accept applications:
- where you can provide clear evidence, for example a letter of intent or contract from your customer, that demonstrates you have a domestic and/or international space supply chain opportunity
- where you can provide evidence from your board (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board) that the project is supported, and that you can complete the project and meet the costs of the project not covered by grant funding
- where you can provide an accountant declaration that confirms you are a trading corporation and can fund your share of the project costs, including any ineligible expenditure. An accountant declaration template is available on business.gov.au and GrantConnect. If you do not use this template, you must include equivalent information and the declaration in your own document
Joint applications are acceptable, provided you have a lead organisation who is the main driver of the project and is eligible to apply.
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Timing
Applications close 01 May 2023.
More Information
Current Recipients
The project will support software infrastructure development to send and update applications on Spiral Blue’s Space Edge Computers. The computers will improve the affordability, flexibility and speed of Earth observation services. Set to fly on two Earth observation cubesats, the software will provide onboard data processing and machine learning driven autonomy. The project will allow Spiral Blue to begin commercial sales for accessing Space Edge at an operational scale, both for satellites in Earth’s orbit and for interplanetary exploration missions.
The project will support Advanced Navigation and Q-CTRL to undertake critical technical development activity for the development of a novel navigation capability. The companies are collaborating to develop quantum-enhanced navigation systems which address the key challenge of inertial navigation for long-endurance space missions. The technology will deliver a unique Australian capability to launch partner Gilmour Space. The grant will support Advanced Navigation and Q-CTRL’s ambitions to supply the Australian and international space sectors with a world-first offering delivering on critical mission needs.
The project will support Crystalaid Manufacture to upgrade their organisational capability to enable the supply of componentry to the international space industry. It will also provide the company with the ability to replace and modernise their vacuum vapour phase oven to increase the space manufacturing readiness needed to successfully bid on international space projects. The grant will support Crystalaid Manufacture to meet an identified supply chain opportunity and grow the skills and capability of its manufacturing team.
The project will support Fleet Space Technologies and its partners SA Power Networks and Oz Minerals Limited to improve the capabilities, and to demonstrate the viability, of its agnostic hybrid Satellite low-powered wide area network (LPWAN) system for the development of remote massive internet of things (IoT) applications, both on Earth and in space. The companies will collaborate to miniaturise and ruggedize sensors for use in their satellite LPWAN system. The grant will support Fleet Space Technologies to pursue commercial supply chain opportunities with Oz Minerals and SA Power Networks, illustrating a terrestrial application of space technology that can be extended to Moon to Mars activities.
