Robinson Aerospace Systems

Educational satellite kits to inspire the next generation

Robinson Aerospace was founded in Adelaide in 2022, with a mission to educate secondary school students on space technology and career opportunities, and inspire them to pursue space-related careers. The Australian Space Agency estimates there will be more than 20,000 new jobs created in Australia’s space industry by 2030, with growth expected to continue beyond. With such a large number of jobs being generated in an extremely new sector, space companies are struggling to find passionate and skilled talent. Robinson Aerospace is addressing this by developing RASCube, an educational satellite kit that is designed to look, feel, function and assemble just like a real CubeSat, but not go into space.

Benefits

RASCube looks, feels, functions and assembles just like a real satellite
A wide range of resources to use in-class, in a workshop or as an extra-curricular activity
Modular system, meaning users can purchase add-ons or develop their own modules, such as cameras or more advanced sensors.

Technology

RASCube’s technology can be broken down into three key sections, the aluminium structure, satellite electronics and the User Interface (UI) software. Each of these have been custom developed in-house. RASCube’s structure is a precision machined aluminium cube (CubeSat). Once machined, the pieces are anodised to add a durable surface finish, and stainless steel thread inserts are added to ensure students do not strip the screw threads. There are four main circuit boards inside of RASCube, designed to mimic a ‘generic’ satellite. These include the Electrical Power System (EPS), the On-Board Computer (OBC), the Sensor Module and the Telemetry Module. These work together to take sensor measurements and wirelessly transmit the data to a receiver. Students access RASCube’s User Interface via the web, to display RASCube’s live data in graphs, charts and other graphics. They can also download the data to an Excel spreadsheet and see live data from sensors that they have added to RASCube.

Potential markets

Robinson Aerospace’s current target market is secondary schools across Australia. There are approximately 2800 schools with students in years 8-10 and Robinson Aerospace’s vision is for students in all of them to experience assembling and using RASCube. Other interesting uses for RASCube include cybersecurity, employee training and space payload testing, with potential for Robinson Aerospace to expand into launching satellites into space.