News release

From: The University of Melbourne

A 690-million kilometre journey through space ends for Australia’s SpIRIT mission

After more than 25 months of successful operations in space, the SpIRIT mission has ended, marking a major milestone for Australia’s growing space capability.

Led by the University of Melbourne, in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency, and made possible by funding support from the Australian Space Agency, the Space Industry Responsive Intelligent Thermal (SpIRIT) nanosatellite exceeded its original two-year design life.

Over its lifetime, the shoebox-sized 11.5 kg SpIRIT nanosatellite completed about 16,000 orbits of Earth – travelling around 690 million kilometres in total, equivalent to the distance from Earth to Jupiter. During that time, it downlinked more than 400 images to Earth and captured hundreds more for onboard edge-computing research.

SpIRIT strengthened Australia’s space capability by demonstrating Australian-designed spacecraft technologies in orbit and advancing high-performance autonomous operations, communications and thermal systems, while growing industry and research expertise.

The mission also enabled gamma and X-ray science through the HERMES instrument, a contribution of the Italian Space Agency and its national scientific partners, fostering close collaboration across industry, government and university partners in Australia and Europe.

In the final months of 2025 alone, the nanosatellite recorded more than 180 hours of X-ray data using its onboard instrument, designed to detect Gamma Ray Bursts – powerful explosions that occur when stars die or neutron stars merge – advancing research in high-energy astrophysics.

The mission’s Principal Investigator, University of Melbourne Professor Michele Trenti, said the mission had been an incredible achievement for its team and partners.

“We are deeply grateful to the Australian and Italian Space Agencies for their confidence and support, and proud of SpIRIT’s enduring contribution to Australia’s space sector and to the peaceful exploration of space,” Professor Trenti said.

The Head of the Australian Space Agency, Enrico Palermo, said the outcomes of the SpIRIT mission extend beyond what the satellite itself achieved in space.

“Three years on, I’m proud that our investment in SpIRIT has created invaluable space heritage for cutting-edge Australian technology – showcasing what our nation can deliver in orbit, and reinforcing Australia’s position as a trusted international partner on space missions,” Mr Palermo said.

The President of the Italian Space Agency, Teodoro Valente, said the HERMES instrument’s performance demonstrated significant technological progress.

“The successful deployment and operation of the HERMES instrument within the SpIRIT mission marked a significant achievement, both for the validation of the technology and for the achieved high-resolution timing of the measurement,” Mr Valente said.

Australian consortium partners included Inovor Technologies supplying the satellite bus, Neumann Space providing its solid metal-fuelled Neumann Drive electric propulsion system, Nova Systems supporting the mission from its Autonomous Intelligent Ground Station, and SITAEL Australia contributing systems engineering expertise.

In early January 2026, the satellite began experiencing platform anomalies and communication was intermittently lost. After careful assessment, the operations team determined that reliable contact was unlikely to be restored, formally bringing the on-orbit phase of the mission to a close.

The spacecraft will gradually descend and is expected to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere around August 2026, leaving no debris behind.

“The final months of operations were highly productive, with payloads performing close to full capability and multiple scientific and technical publications now in preparation,” Professor Trenti said.

In the short term, the team will focus on analysing and archiving mission data for the broader scientific community, with several research publications already in preparation. Lessons learned from SpIRIT will inform the next generation of innovative payload designs.

Looking ahead, the knowledge, hardware and partnerships developed through SpIRIT will help shape the next generation of Australian space technologies – from remote sensing to edge computing in orbit.