Welcome to a brand new season of Outback to Orbit, which comes as we build up to the 2025 International Astronautical Congress (IAC). It's the biggest space industry event on the planet - and this year, it’s happening in Sydney.

To mark the occasion, we’re looking at some key space capabilities Australia has to show the world, and we begin with the 2025 IAC theme of 'Sustainable Space: Resilient Earth'. 

In this episode, we meet some Australian space innovators who've created technologies that help keep valuable space activities safe, efficient, and economically viable for the long-term - plus one company refining how we use space data to improve environmental sustainability on Earth.

Our featured guests for this episode are Paddy Neumann (Neumann Space) discussing the Neumann Drive electric spacecraft thruster fuelled by metal, Julia Mitchell (Space Machines Company) discussing in-orbit spacecraft servicing and the Space MAITRI mission, William Crowe (HEO) discussing non-Earth imaging cameras that monitor objects and activities in space, and Venkat Pillay (LatConnect 60 / LC60 AI) discussing how to make insights from Earth observation satellite data more useful and affordable. We also kick things off with a quick history lesson on IAC from the Agency's resident space historian Kerrie Dougherty.