Metakosmos Receives $250,000 Moon to Mars Supply Chain Grant

The Australian Space Agency announced intake ten of the Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability programme on 1 March 2024. Twelve Australian projects aligned with NASA's Artemis programme shared more than $9 million.

Metakosmos received $250,000.

PROJECT SCOPE

The grant targeted raising the technology readiness level of the Kosmosuit, including its dual-use terrestrial applications.

Work covered establishing connectivity between suit subsystems and the proprietary bioastronautics interface for deployment across multiple centres, and building internal automated capability to increase suit production capacity.

The connectivity work became the CORE modular payload interface architecture.

CEO COMMENT

Kiriti Rambhatla thanked the Australian Government and the Australian Space Agency, describing the award as an investment in the Australian space supply chain and stating an intention to deliver the project with partners and take it to international markets.

ARTEMIS CONTEXT

Artemis surface operations require human systems capability beyond the historic supplier base. NASA's move to purchasing moonwalking services widened the supplier ecosystem.

The available position for an allied supplier is subcontractor, supplying subsystems, components or validation services into established prime relationships.

CONTINUED SUPPORT

Kernel360's development was subsequently supported by the Australian Space Agency's Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grant.

Technology readiness claims turn on demonstration in conditions representative of operations, which is the function of field deployment platforms including HELIOS.

Grant funding supports development. It is not acceptance of qualification.

WIDER INTAKE

The twelve funded projects were selected to help Australian organisations enter global space supply chains. Metakosmos has worked with CSIRO and the Department of Defence on production processes since 2020, during its stealth period.