About the Victorian Microgravity
Space Life Sciences Consortium

The Health & Life Sciences Cluster represents companies in a wide spectrum of market segments, ranging from medical technology devices, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology to life sciences. With the Cluster, the German-Australian Chamber provides a platform to connect and engage with industry peers, research institutions, consultants, associations, and government stakeholders from both Australia and Germany.  

The German-Australian Chamber is also increasing its connection to the German space industry, and particularly with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), in the areas of microgravity research, space life sciences, and human spaceflight. Last year, the German-Australian Chamber hosted an event with a focus on health in the space sector, bringing together the Australian Space Agency, DLR, CSIRO, and industry player, Merck.  

Thomas Mueller, the Space Coordinator at the German-Australian Chamber, endeavours to continue building the bridge between the German and Australian space sectors across several areas. You can contact him on thomas.mueller@germany.org.au or 0488 882 505. 

RMIT University conducts research and provides training facilities and education in a range of fields related to spaceflight operations. This capability includes Space Physics, Space Weather, Space Food and Microgravity experimentation. We provide flight controller training in the Mission Control Training Centre, including the prediction of space weather events. In addition, at RMIT we build electromagnetic shields to protect against space radiation and provide the testbed for microgravity experiments in Australia. 

Associate Professor Gail Iles has spent extensive time experimenting in microgravity, having amassed over 500 parabolas on board the ESA parabolic flight programme including moon and Mars gravity. She has been PI on the nanoparticle agglomeration device, operating the device in microgravity, and acting as a stand-in operator for other condensed matter experiments. An applicant to the ESA astronaut selections in 2008 and 2021, she has experience in survival in extreme environments including desert, jungle, glacier and altitude.

Her expertise includes:

• Design, construction and launch of scientific payloads for operation in microgravity and/or hypergravity
• Sounding rocket payloads
• Parabolic flight payloads
• International Space Station Payloads
• Systems integration of scientific experiments into off-world platforms
• Measurement and observation of physical, biological and life sciences phenomena in altered gravity
• Human test subjects for micro- and hyper-gravity.

2023 saw the qualification of the RADICALS space radiation payload for launch into space. The 1U RADICALS payload was bombarded with high-energy ions at the ANSTO Centre for Accelerator Science in June and August 2023, raising the Technology Readiness Level from 4 to 6. RADICALS successfully flew into space onboard the DLR MAPHEUS rocket in February 2024, in partnership with the Swedish Space Corporation. The RADICALS radiation shield technology could transform the space industry. Satellites are subject to intense radiation in the Van Allen belts, as are humans on long-duration, long-distance missions to the Moon and Mars, and they need more radiation protection than currently exists. As a university endeavour, this is not yet a commercial activity, and so undergraduates and postgraduate students have been involved with the development of this technology for the past 6 years. This serves two purposes. First, it provides students with access to and input on cutting edge technologies for the space sector. Second, it provides context for industry-focused projects in higher education. This two-way exchange between industry and HE is essential for the health and sustainability of the Australian space industry. 

Following the announcement of the creation of the Australian Space Agency in 2018, and the need to increase the workforce in the space industry, Gail led the development and design of RMIT’s Bachelor of Space Science. The first cohort of students graduated in December 2022, and over the assessment period for this award we expanded opportunities for students to study an Honours degree in Space Science. In 2023, five students studied space weather, space situational awareness, space radiation and astronaut physiology. This expanded the cohort of students at this level in the Physics Department, thus creating a pathway to postgraduate studies in space science. Simultaneously, the course created a bridge between the Physics and Geospatial departments, thus also creating a pathway for students into the RMIT S.P.A.C.E. Research Centre which specialises in satellite positioning. 

Dr Julia Low is leading the field of sensory-nutrition sciences with a particular focus on the impact of psychological adaptations in confined environments on eating behaviour at RMIT University. She has an existing relationship with Space Nutrition Physiology researchers from the University of Bonn, German Aerospace Center (DLR, Institute of Aerospace Medicine), and the University Hospital Tübingen. She is currently involved in projects involving analogues such as understanding postures (bed rest) and isolation and confinement studies. In 2023, she visited DLR’s Aerospace Medicine Research Facility (Envihab). 

At RMIT, she leads the team in developing ground-based analogues using a combination of digital and posture-based methods to study the effects of psychological experiences on the sensory perception of food. She currently supervises a team of PhD students and undergraduate/honours projects in the Space Sensory-Nutrition and Food area with researchers within the Nutrition and Food Technology (Dr Lisa Newman, Dr Arianna Dick), Physics, Psychology, Computer Sciences and Aerospace Engineering researchers. She collaborates closely with the Space Physics team at RMIT and supervises undergraduate space-food science student projects with Dr. Gail Iles.  

Julia travelled to the USA earlier in 2024 to co-chair a symposium at the American Chemical Society titled ‘Sensory Beyond Earth’ with two other members from the ESA Topical Team Project [TASTY (Terrestrial and Space Taste Study)] and visited NASA’s Johnson Space Center’s Nutritional Biochemistry Laboratory. She co-leads the RMIT Space Industry Hub (Life Sciences) and is one of the founding members of the AIAA Melbourne Section (Board Member). 

Our Australian Lunar Experiment Promoting Horticulture team is part of the space startup organisation Lunaria One. The RMIT leads are Tien Huynh (biology) and Graham Dorrington (engineering). The main focus has been to investigate plant, fungal, and bacterial resilience using space exploration extremities to improve growth for food security and extremophile survival mechanisms. The second focus is on outreach activities at all levels from primary to tertiary education, research, and industry.  

For more information, please contact:  zara.hamon@rmit.edu.au
RMIT Space Industry Hub and SmartSat CRC Victoria Node Manager 

Space at the University of Melbourne is far more than just space craft. Our skillsets cut across both the civil and defence domains, including (alphabetically):

• Advanced Manufacturing
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning
• Astrophysics
• Biology
• Biomedical life sciences
• Computational fluid dynamics, hypersonics, and rocketry
• Earth observations
• Indigenous astronomy and the solar system
• Instruments and payloads
• Law
• Melbourne Entrepreneur Centre, Genesis, and Tin Alley ventures
• Melbourne space laboratory
• Melbourne space program
• Quantum technologies
• Returned samples
• Solar power

Undergraduate subjects and courses provide the foundations of a career in space. These are supported by student-led initiatives such as the Melbourne Space Program and the Aerospace and Rocket Engineering Society. At postgraduate level, graduate students can work with world leading academics and partners on their own research projects. 

For space research, outputs can range from pushing the limits of our scientific knowledge and discovery of new information through to developing new products and services for immediate application. 
Contact details: Andrew Woolnough andrew.woolnough@unimelb.edu.au 

Dr Rowena Christiansen 

• Lecturer and Topic Coordinator, “Human health in the space environment”, the University of Melbourne Medical School (approximately 80 students across 2022-24)
• Lecturer, Swinburne University of Technology (Four-week module on ‘humans in space’ for the “Space and Microgravity Science” space technology subject.
• Founder and Principal, the ad astra vita project, Co-founder, the International Humans in Space Summit. 
• Recipient of 2023 Australian Space Award for “Innovator of the Year – Individual”. 

My additional activities include participation in international collaborative aerospace medicine research projects, partnerships and professional organisations, and mentoring of students and young professionals. Local partnerships include the Victorian Microgravity Consortium, the 2023 Melbourne International Space Festival, and the International Humans in Space Summit. 

I also have a wide variety of international professional collaborations and partnerships. Many of these are associated with the US-based Aerospace Medical Association (of which I am the first Australian Vice-President), and its constituent organisations. I am a member of the UNOOSA ‘Space4Women’ mentoring program and Space and Global Health Network, and the GEO Health Community of Practice. 

Contact details: rowena.christiansen@unimelb.edu.au, +61448331704, https://www.adastravita.com.