Synopsis
In the 1960s, a group of University of Melbourne Science and Engineering students and one Law student banded together to build a satellite in their spare time. You are invited to the launch of a book that records the journey of those students as they built Australis OSCAR 5 and had it launched into orbit by NASA in January 1970. Australis operated successfully for nearly two months before its batteries ran out. It was the first satellite built in Australia and achieved a number of important technical milestones, including over a dozen world firsts. Then, nearly fifty years later, another group of students, also from the Universiy of Melbourne decided that they too would build a small satellite. Operating in a very different technical, social and regulatory environment and with remarkably similar goals, the team built their cubesat. As if to celebrate the anniversary year of Australis' launch in 1970, ACRUX-1 was launched from New Zealand in 2019.
About the Author
Owen was educated at Geelong Grammar School and attended the University of Melbourne where he studied Electrical Engineering and Electronics. Following graduation, he joined the Physics RAAF Department of the University for his PhD in balloon-borne astronomy. He joined the staff of the Department and moved to the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra in 1986. Owen's next move was to Adelaide and private industry, including the defence industry, and finally joined an information technology company before retiring in 2009. He enjoyed short stints with the Ericsson Research Laboratory, an aircraft flight test company and an industry association. Owen is married with a son, three grandchildren and two small dogs. Richard was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and he enrolled in a four year Bachelor of Laws course at Melbourne University in 1962. Largely because of his involvement with the Australis project and also of his uncertainty about wanting to be a lawyer, he did not complete the course until 1972. In the meantime, Richard applied his interest in space research by working for the Bureau of Meteorology in Melbourne, helping to set up their weather satellite receiving stations around the country. On graduating with his Law degree in 1972 Richard worked for a lawyer in Melbourne for three years, before taking up a position with a law firm in suburban Greensborough and specialising in Family Law. He went on to become Senior Partner in the firm, from which he retired in 2011, while continuing to work there as a consultant. Richard was a member of the Australian Space Industry Chamber of Commerce in the 1990s when the Chamber was advising the Federal Government on space policy and regulations. Richard is married to Pauline and they live in a rural area north of Melbourne. They have three children and three grandchildren.
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