Project update: Detailed definition funded!

The last few months have been very hectic for me and the SkyHopper team, and we did not have a chance to update the website. I am sorry about the silence, but I am most happy to break it with great news: SkyHopper has been funded for phase C (detailed mission definition)! We received an award of $800,000 for a 2019 design study led at Melbourne!

The project has been growing as well, with new co-investigators and partner institutions joining the consortium. A proposal to secure the remaining funding needed for construction, assembly, integration and testing has been submitted as well. Stay tuned for an update of the website to reflect all the ongoing and planned activities, which include testing hardware in our newly established UoM laboratory and reports on two productive summer internships.

Combined with resources secured by our national and international partners, we expect a team of about 10 scientists and engineers in place by the end of the year to work on SkyHopper, keeping us on track for a launch by the end of 2022. Here at Melbourne, we are currently looking to recruit three full time engineers, and we also have an opening for a paid internship. Thus, whether you are a student or an experienced engineer/physicist, you have an opportunity to join us and make an impact by getting Australia’s first space telescope off the ground.

 

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PARTNER INSTITUTES

Australian Astronomical Observatory ∙ Australian National University ∙ Cambridge University ∙ Curtin University ∙ Istituto Nazionale Di Astrofisica ∙ Macquarie University ∙ Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics ∙ NASA Goddard ∙ NASA Ames ∙ Space Telescope Science Institute ∙ Stonybrook University ∙ Swinburne Institute of Technology ∙ Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg ∙ University of Colorado ∙ University of Leicester ∙ University of New South Wales ∙ University of Southern Queensland ∙ University of Virginia ∙ University of Western Australia