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BIG IDEAS 19 TRINITY TODAY
READY TO LAUNCH
It’s been 50 years since the first Australianbuilt satellite took flight. And two Trinity College students were behind its creation.
BY E MILY McAU L IFFE
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Australis, soon to become Australis OSCAR 5 once in orbit, sits in the Delta rocket waiting for the early morning launch.
n 1967, Steve Howard (TC 1965) sat at his desk in Upper Clarke’s and reached for the soldering iron he’d ordered by air mail. In quiet concentration, he fused wires to connectors, assembling a series of little boxes to create a larger one. One of the smaller pieces was stuffed with a scrap of Trinity notepaper – put there by fellow Trinitarian Owen Mace (TC 1965), who had earlier been tasked with ensuring the box’s contents didn’t vibrate when shaken. Steve’s corridor companions took little interest in the contraption sitting on his desk. To the untrained eye, it looked like an innocuous box devoid of remarkable features. That ‘box’, however, was destined for great things – it was the first Australian-built satellite, and it would one day be launched into space. For engineering students Steve and Owen, building a satellite had become an all-consuming side project after they joined the Melbourne University Astronautical Society in 1965. One of the society’s chief ‘space nerds’ had made the lofty proposition that the group build a satellite. It was uncharted territory for Australia, but the fact that this particular student was studying law and not engineering infused the project with optimal parts conviction and naiveté. His engineering contemporaries, while slightly more attuned to the complexities of such a feat, had youthful enthusiasm on their side and, backed by fond childhood memories of Sputnik, the project was deemed a goer. ▶
