Mission Control: The “Air Traffic Controllers” of Space
Andreas Antoniades from Saber Astronautics explains how Australia is leading the way in mission operations, space traffic management, and even sustainable orbital farming. Saber operates the Responsive Space Operations Centre (RSOC) in Adelaide, which acts as a national hub for tracking thousands of objects in orbit to ensure mission safety.
[00:00:28] Saber Astronautics operates the National Mission Control Center out of South Australia. Their facility helps customers design missions from concept through to flight. They currently fly some of the largest low Earth orbit spacecraft, including “cell phone towers in space” that feature antennas hundreds of square feet in size.
Space Traffic Management: Avoiding Crashes
[00:02:34] Saber tracks thousands of objects in orbit to prevent collisions. This task is becoming increasingly complex; in just the last three years, the amount of active space objects has quadrupled. Using their free software, TAROT, anyone can see the objects they track directly from a web browser.
[00:14:21] Collision avoidance is a major concern. This year alone, two large, non-working space objects came within 10 meters of each other. Because Saber uses advanced mathematics and high-speed computational modeling, they can predict these “close approaches” up to a week in advance and recommend maneuvers to move spacecraft out of harm’s way.
A Window Into Space Operations
[00:05:08] The RSOC facility in Adelaide features a large panoramic viewing gallery. This allows the general public and students to watch real-world space operations behind the glass. Saber experts often interact with visitors to explain the importance of space traffic management and mission design.
From Video Games to Mission Software
[00:12:43] Much like the digital twins used by Raytracer, Saber’s mission software uses 3D gaming technologies like Unity and Unreal Engine. By taking complicated orbital mechanics and simplifying them visually, Saber has reduced the time it takes to train a spacecraft operator from six months down to just a couple of hours.
Sustainability and “Plants for Space”
[00:19:47] Saber is also a key partner in the Plants for Space project. They are developing prototype camera hardware that uses infrared and color sensors to autonomously detect plant health in orbit. This data is sent to cloud infrastructure, allowing scientists on the ground to monitor long-term farming experiments that will one day feed astronauts on their journey to becoming an interplanetary species.
The “Windiest Road”: Andreas’s Career Advice
[00:23:01] Andreas describes his own path as “the windiest possible road,” starting in electronic engineering and business before joining Saber as a part-time embedded engineer. He emphasizes that the space industry has no set mold. “As long as you are keen,” he says, “no matter what you study—art, fashion, law, or archeology—there is a way to make it work for the space sector.”
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