Airservices Australia and Skykraft Pty Limited have launched a new collaboration to share information and technical expertise as part of the development of Skykraft’s commercial space-based Air Traffic Management service.

Skykraft is planning to conduct a Proof of Concept to explore and demonstrate the feasibility of space-based surveillance and communication technologies and its application in the aviation eco-system.

Airservices’ Chief Customer Experience and Strategy Officer, Peter Curran and Chairman of Skykraft, AVM (Retd) Mark Skidmore signed a memorandum of understanding to work exclusively together on the planning and execution of the Proof of Concept (PoC) pathfinder satellite mission.

“This MOU will allow Airservices Australia to explore opportunities to further develop our working relationship with Skykraft,” said Peter Curran. “This is an important initiative for future service applications and Airservices looks forward to offering our expertise to further this technical evolution.”

Skykraft is planning to conduct a launch of a low Earth orbit satellite in mid-2021 as part of this Proof of Concept.

Mark Skidmore stated that “this is a major milestone for Skykraft and we look forward to continuing to work closely with Airservices to demonstrate Skykraft’s ability to deliver commercial space-based surveillance and communication technologies for Air Traffic Management.”