“Made in Space – Landed in Australia”
Varda’s W-series capsules use a slow-melting heat shield. During high speed (Mach-25+) re-entry, the surrounding air compresses into superheated plasma while the heat shield chars and erodes away, carrying heat off the vehicle. This wonderful piece of material science keeps the capsule’s internal payload within safe operating temperatures despite extreme external heating of around 2000 Celsius.
Technology Watch – Space Manufacturing |
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Every new environment humans gain access to creates new industries. Oceans gave us shipping and energy. The internet gave us software and networks. Space will allow us to make new stuff. Microgravity manufacturing is a new technology with a close to $1 billion capital deployed in the last year through VC firms like Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund. Australia has a significant role to play here: the coming back down bit (re-entry) given our wide open spaces, stable weather, and lack of air congestion. Gravity doesn’t just affect the size of your earlobes, it affects the purity of all crystalline structures. In space, crystals grow with near-perfect symmetry while fluids and alloys mix without stratification. A significant part of the next-generation pharmaceuticals and semi-conductors will be “Made in Space”. Most people will miss this because they’re looking at space through the lens of rockets and astronauts and exploration. We think the bigger story is economic: space as a factory floor. And we think Australia can be a material part of this factory floor. Somewhere above you, right now, Varda Space Industries W-6 spacecraft is circling the Earth at 28,000 km/h. Now, a single Varda capsule won’t change the world. But when one becomes a hundred, when a hundred becomes a thousand … then new supply chains are formed. “Made in Space – Landed in Australia” might soon become a standard. |
Market Watch – Quantum |
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At Powerhouse Venture Partners, we have long held the conviction that AI and Quantum will converge. We are now seeing Quantum move from a research curiosity and into a commercial tipping point:
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Sovereign Watch – Batteries |
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At Powerhouse Venture Partners, we are strongly motivated to make new science become new industry. We therefore spend a lot of time trying to connect dots. We are doing this on a number of programs and this section will be devoted to both trying to explain our efforts and as a call to action from our network. Here, we discuss critical minerals supply chain and batteries. The opportunity to build a sovereign battery capability lies in a low volume/high value approach to battery production. We simply cannot compete with the likes of CATL or LG with mass produced EV batteries. However, we can and should service the high growth ‘drone’ and autonomous vessel demand – especially given with markedly more near-term Government investment committed from the recent Defence Integrated Investment Programme 26. Providing proven and tested Australian battery tech for Drones and Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Unmanned Underwater Vehicles and Unmanned Surface Vehicles can and should be supported as “Government Furnished Equipment”. Australia is ramping up to build one bluebottle every week. These are yacht-sized vessels powered by wind, solar and battery. We need to get sovereign batteries and other value-add technical content into those boats! Australia has enough of the core IP. One of our portfolio companies will be developing the ruggedised ceramic coated separators. Stay tuned! |
Bluebottle™ USV with ABFC Thaiyak off Ashmore Reef
UAV Photo taken courtesy ABFC Thaiyak Crew
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