Australian Space Research Conference

Broaden Our Horizons: Adelaide, September 29-October 1, 2026

About the Conference

ASRC2024

The 25th Australian Space Research Conference (ASRC) will be held in South Australia at Adelaide University during the week of September 28 to October 2, 2026. It is planned as a three day conference.

This conference is organised by the National Space Society of Australia, Mars Society Australia, and members of the Australian space research community with a heritage of organising 18 successful ASRC meetings to date.

The ASRC is the primary annual meeting for Australian space research. It welcomes researchers, engineers, educators, industry professionals, policymakers, and other workers from across the academic, industry and government parts of the space sector, and is not limited to Australian-based research. International participants are most welcome.

With a commitment to equality and diversity, and to encourage the next generation, we especially welcome abstracts from women, minority groups, and students.

Abstracts Opening: 18 May 2026

Registrations Open: 3 August 2026

Abstracts Close: 24 August, 2026

Draft Program Release: 31 August 2026

Early-bird Registrations close: 2 September 2026

Conference Start: 29 September 2026

Conference End: 1 October 2026

Conference written papers due: 19 October 2026

Explore the diverse range of topics our conference covers

The following people are confirmed as Plenary speakers this year:

  • Dr Douglas Bock – CSIRO

  • Dr Zahra Bouya - Bureau of Meteorology

  • Matthew Congedi - Gilmour Space  

  • Professor Matthew Gilliham - Adelaide University

  • Professor Kate Kitigawa – La Trobe University

  • Professor Katerina Miljkovic  - Curtin University

  • Flavia Tata Nardini  - Fleet Space Technologies

  • Paddy Neumann - Neumann Space

  • Enrico Palermo – Australian Space Agency  

  • The Honorable Chris Picton MP – Minister for State Development, Defence and Space Industries, South Australian Government

  • Alison Rose - Geoscience Australia

  • Professor Mellisa de Zwart  - Adelaide University

Day 2 Morning Panel Discussions

  • Facilitator: Professor Volker Hessel (Adelaide University)

  • Facilitator: Ms Tori Murray (Southern Launch)

  • Panel themes and panellists to be announced soon

Registrations

We are now accepting registrations.

The draft conference program may be found here.

Sessions on Tuesday September 29

Sessions on Wednesday September 30

Sessions on Thursday October 1

Oral Presentations: Plenary or Invited presentations are 30 minutes in length. Normal oral presentation are capped at 15 minutes. All presenters should allow time for Q&A with other delegates. 2 minutes for normal presenters and up to 5 minutes for plenary/invited presenters.

The computer equipment in the conference rooms is using the MS Windows operating system. MS Powerpoint is the preferred format but pdf is also possible.

We are collecting electronic presentations from September 21 and instructions on the upload process will provided shortly.

Poster Presentations: These are presented in the last session on the afternoon of Tuesday September 29. Maximum poster size is A1 in either horizontal or vertical orientation. Posterboards are provided in the Atrium area and delegates need to setup their poster prior to the session. The poster authors during the dedicated poster sessions have the opportunity of discussing their research work with other delegates.

Written conference papers : We are accepting full papers to be included in the next conference proceedings which will be published in mid 2027. (This is optional for delegates).

These will be peer reviewed. The submission deadline has been extended to Monday October 19, 2026. A sample MS-Word format of the paper can be found here.

The papers are attached to your original abstract submission made in Easychair. The details on how to upload them available here.

Conference prizes : Students & ECR’s giving presentations are eligible for prizes which will be awarded at the end of conference.

Details of people under consideration will be provided shortly.
Delegates who are Markers will have access to an online form to upload their results.

Conference Program

Extra Conference Activities

Tuesday September 29:

David Cooper Memorial Lecture 2026

A public talk by Earl White, Mars Society Australia.

"Red Planet: 25 Years of Practising for Mars in Australia and peering into what the next decade might uncover."

7:00pm - 8:30pm in Braggs Lecture Theatre, Adelaide University City Campus East

Doors open at 6:30pm

Bookings by Humanitix are here or use the QRcode

Wednesday September 30:

Conference dinner
6:45 pm for a 7:00 pm start
Dress:         Smart casual
2 course meal + limited drinks.
Cost: $110 per person. (use the portal to book).

Location:       
National Wine Centre of Australia
Adelaide Botanic Gardens
Corner of Botanic Rd and Hackney Rd

Website:       https://www.nationalwinecentre.com.au

The University Campus East is located in the North Eastern corner of the Adelaide CBD. A map of the campus can be downloaded here. Information on the conference venues is located here.

The Adelaide Metro website can be used for planning a journey, finding timetables, fare information, accessibility information, or recharging your metroCARD.

Train: The Adelaide Railway Station serves the North Terrace campus with routes like the Belair, Gawler, Grange, Outer Harbor, Seaford, and Flinders lines, facilitating easy access from various parts of the city and suburbs.

Bus: Stop G1 North Terrace caters to the campus with bus routes 170, 173, 174, 176, 178, 281, 286, 287, 288, 98C, and 99C, offering extensive city and suburban connections. The N178 route provides after-midnight service on weekends from Newton to the city.

 

Location & Transport

City Campus East

Organising Committee

Cheryl Brown, Secretariat

Iver Cairns, Conference Co-Chair, University of Sydney

Rowena Christiansen, Mars Society Australia

Guifre’ Molera Calves, University of Tasmania

Jack Dwyer, National Space Society of Australia

Bryan Foley, Adelaide University

Matthew Gilliham, Adelaide University

Richard Harvey, Adelaide University

Volker Hessel, Adelaide University

Patrick Humbert, La Trobe University

Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland

Li Qiao, Chair - Program Committee, UNSW Canberra

Wayne Short, Conference Co-Chair, President, NSSA

Melissa de Zwart, Adelaide University

Inquiries

General Inquiries:
asrcconference@nssa.com.au
phone: +61 411 296 541

Abstracts:
asrc-abstracts@nssa.com.au

Registrations:
asrcsecretariat@nssa.com.au

Sponsors

Interested in sponsoring the 2026 conference ? Complete our interest form here or drop us an email.