Space Connect has just announced that the Under Secretary of the US Air Force, Kristyn E. Jones, will headline this month’s Australian Space Summit and Exhibition.

Jones is one of the most senior figures involved in the US Space Force and oversees the entire US Air Force’s annual budget of more than $205 billion.

As part of her role, she also directs the US Air Force’s strategy and policy development, weapons acquisition and technology investments while being the principal adviser to the Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall.

In this episode, Defence Connect’s senior analyst, Stephen Kuper, chats about the significance of her appearance, and what local industry can learn at the event.

This month, Space Connect reported how researchers operating the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) in NSW used an athletics-style method to measure the speed of neutron star jets.

The international team timed the phenomenon like a “100-metre sprinter” to record that it travelled at 114,000 kilometres per second – one-third the speed of light.

In this episode, Tom Russell, who led the research, talks through the mysterious jets and how they developed a new way to track them.

Plus, he discusses why the ATCA telescope is still such a pioneering machine and what the future of the research holds.

We’re less than two months away from our annual Australian Space Summit and Exhibition.

The two-day event will be the biggest yet, featuring headliners including Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and the commander overseeing the US Space Force’s Indo-Pacific team.

Hosting the event is Alan Duffy, a professor in astrophysics and pro-vice-chancellor of flagship initiatives at Swinburne University.

He joins the show this week to discuss his incredible career and the biggest issues in the sector this year.