The Big Win - Australian Space Innovator of the Year 2025. So, What's Next?

Mehdi Hussain
Jun 2
2 min read

We’re thrilled to announce that Mareekh Dynamics has been awarded prestigious title of the Innovator of the Year at the Australian Space Awards 2025!

A huge congratulations to Dr Muhammad Akbar Hussain for his unwavering dedication, vision, and relentless pursuit of progress that made this milestone possible. Also, a big hand to Mareekh Dynamics team of founders, advisors and associates for their efforts into making this possible.

What this win means for Mareekh Dynamics?

With this recognition comes a responsibility to give back—both to the industry and the wider community.

In 2016, we designed and launched Australia’s first mobile astronomical observatory, the Southern Cross Outreach Observatory Project (SCOOP), which began public outreach at the Australian Arid Lands Botanical Garden. That observatory is now contributing to the development of technologies for space debris detection and mitigation. We are also actively involved in the restoration of the long abandoned Murray-Hull Observatory near Quorn, SA, aiming to return it to service for public and scientific use.

We are now preparing to build a prototype Martian habitat system for engineering validation and astronaut training - a critical step toward enabling humanity’s next giant leap to the Red Planet.

This brings our attention back to a place of past achievement: Port Augusta, a city that has already witnessed our passion for science, outreach, and innovation.

We now propose the creation of a Mars Simulation Base near Port Augusta:

A public-facing research and outreach facility
Featuring walk-through mock-ups of Mars habitats based on our patented technologies
Designed to give visitors a real-life glimpse into what it means to live and work on Mars as a Martian astronaut, or "Marstronaut".

This initiative would not only promote public engagement and STEM education but also:

Inspire the next generation of space leaders
Boost regional tourism
Position Port Augusta as a focal point of global attention in space exploration.

Moreover, the habitat systems developed and tested here will directly contribute to advancing high-altitude medicine, with real-world applications in regions like the Andes and the Tibetan Plateau, further demonstrating how Australian innovation can make a global impact. We are working closely with our partners and associates in South America to apply scaled-down versions of our Martian habitat technology in extreme terrestrial environments of the high-altitude regions of the Andes, where millions of residents and mine workers are affected by chronic altitude hypoxia. This presents a significant terrestrial application with vast humanitarian and commercial potential.

Time to push boundaries and reaching for Mars and beyond.

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