Ranked among the world’s top 25 universities, the University of Sydney is a global leader in space and planetary sciences, advancing CubeSat missions, exoplanet discovery, quantum sensing, and frontier astrophysics.
- ARC Training Centre for CubeSats, UAVs & Their Applications (CUAVA) - CUAVA, led by the University of Sydney, is Australia’s flagship CubeSat program. It designed, built, and launched the Waratah Seed-1 satellite (Australia’s first space qualification mission) and the CUAVA-2 CubeSat, both successfully deployed on 17 August 2024 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-11 mission. Payloads included a hyperspectral imager, GPS reflectometry, radiation monitors, magnetorquers, plasma thruster, and perovskite solar cell demonstrator.
- Waratah Seed-1 went on to be named AIAA SmallSat Mission of the Year 2025 in Utah and was selected as a Highlight Lecture at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2025 in Sydney — international recognition of Australian innovation and leadership in space.
- Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA) - A world leader in astronomy, SIfA combines observational, theoretical, and instrumentation research. Its work spans exoplanets, asteroseismology, black holes, supernovae, the Galactic Centre, and cosmology. Notable projects include the TOLIMAN mission, using AI-powered edge computing in orbit to search for habitable exoplanets, and new techniques to forecast space weather in nearby star systems such as Proxima Centauri.
- Leadership & Networks - The University of Sydney co-directs the NSW Space Research Network and plays a pivotal role in NSW’s sovereign space capability. Its programs integrate industry, government, and international partners to accelerate innovation from laboratories to orbit.