It’s not every day a 22-year-old from the Barossa gets a student-built satellite experiment into space. But that’s exactly what Edward Robinson has done, and his team at Robinson Aerospace Systems located in Welland is already dreaming even bigger.
“Yesterday we launched a student project into space on a SpaceX rocket,” Edward said.
“It still doesn’t feel real. I grew up obsessed with SpaceX. Now we’ve had something we made fly on one of their rockets. It’s truly unimaginable.”
The idea started small. Edward founded the Robinson Aerospace Systems company when he was just 18, straight out of school, with a mission to get kids into STEM through hands-on satellite kits.
“We make educational CubeSats that students can build in class. They’re full replicas, right down to the antennas and electronics. It gives them real-world experience in physics, digital tech, and engineering.”
Those kits are now in more than 150 schools across Australia and used by 10 universities overseas. But Edward wanted to push the boundaries.
“At a certain point, we thought, how can we call them replicas if we’ve never launched one for real?”
That question got answered on Tuesday, 24 June when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried a payload of student experiments into orbit.
The original idea came from an 11-year-old student who reached out with a bold plan to measure radiation in space.
“He asked if we could help get it to space,” Edward said.
“We thought about it and went, why not? It sounded crazy, but we didn’t see any good reason not to try.”
The experiment grew into something much bigger. Seven schools from around the world (high school students from Rwanda, Ukraine, Colombia, Singapore, UAE, USA and Australia) joined the project, each programming a board to communicate using Morse code.
“The idea was for the schools to send messages to each other from space. Ukraine would send ‘freedom’ to Colombia, and so on. It’s not about the data. It’s about the experience of being part of something global.”
Edward said the support he’s had from the local space industry, especially in South Australia has been overwhelming.
“You’d be surprised how generous people are with their time. I’d reach out to CEOs offering to buy them a cup of coffee, and they’d actually respond. A lot of them just want to help the next generation.”
The Robinson Aerospace Systems team gathered at 4:30am yesterday to watch the launch from their Welland workshop.
“We had a little celebration and then watched the second part of the mission, which was meant to bring the payload back to Earth. Unfortunately, the capsule wasn’t recovered.”
Despite the setback, spirits are high.
“Our primary mission was always to get student-built experiments into space. We did that. Everyone’s stoked.”
Now the focus shifts to the moon.
“We have a contract in place for a moon mission between 2028 and 2030,” Edward said.
“It’s still early days, but we don’t see any reason we can’t make it happen.”
His message to students is simple.
“If you’re passionate about something, start now. I didn’t wait. I built model rockets, ran small businesses in school, and just kept learning. If I can do it, so can they.”
Robinson Aerospace Systems
Where: Unit 7 / 130 Frederick Street, Welland
For more information, click here.
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