A small wonder

• A nano-satellite fitted with an engine developed by 500-backed Singapore startup Aliena has been launched in SpaceX’s ‘rideshare’ program.
• The engine weighs less than 2kg or “less than two cartons of milk”, Aliena said, adding that conventional engines tend to be much larger and heavier in comparison.
• It added that the engine is highly fuel-efficient despite its size and allows small satellites to move in space with a force of as little as what “an ant needs to take a few steps forward”.
• The startup is working towards developing microsatellites and hopes to enable satellites to fly closer to Earth using the engines it develops. This will help various industries acquire more meaningful data such as high-resolution images.
• Read the full article here.

Growing places

• A strategic partnership struck by 500-backed Malaysian drone startup Aerodyne Group will expand its service offerings to the Scandanavian region.
• Together with Norway-based dronetech company, Astralution, the startup’s solutions to support the digitalization of the oil and gas sector.
• Founder and Group CEO of Aerodyne, Kamarul A Muhamed believes there is a huge opportunity to break data silos in the sector. “Our AI-powered asset management solution – Vertikaliti – will provide up to 90% time savings with smart oil and gas monitoring systems and 35% operation cost savings for wind turbine analysis.”
• “It will also provide up to 97% increased productivity for solar panel inspections,” he added.
• According to the article, Aerodyne has managed more than 560,000 infrastructure assets with 458,058 flight operations, while managing over 380,000km of power infrastructure across 35 countries globally.
• Read the full story on VulcanPost here.

Flying colours

• 500-backed Australian rocket startup Gilmour Space has successfully conducted a 110-kilonewton test fire of what it claims to be the most powerful rocket engine ever developed in Australia.
• This test is part of the startup’s mission to develop locally-made rockets capable of launching 300- to 4,000-kilogram satellites and payloads into low earth and other orbits in the next five years.
• Founder and CEO, Adam Gilmour said, “It is no small thing to say that we’ve developed Australia’s largest rocket engine; and that it could have significant flow-on benefits for the commercial, civil, and defence space sectors.”
• “We hope to be able to launch Australia’s first sovereign-made rocket from Queensland sometime in the latter half of 2022,” he added.
• Read the full press release here.