Great engineering often begins with a simple thought
There must be a better way to do this.
While completing his UNSW PhD in astrodynamics, William Crowe was drawn to complex unanswered problems, the kind of problems that are on the forefront of technology which are solved by testing, building and trying again.
That mindset led him to found HEO in 2016. Not to follow an existing path, but to create something that had never been done before.
But Will didn't build it alone. He was joined by co-founder and CTO Dr. Hiranya Jayakody, who brought a PhD in mechatronics engineering from UNSW and deep expertise in computer vision and machine learning. Together they built HEO’s technology – which allows satellites to photograph other objects in orbit.
From other active satellites, to debris, to space junk. HEO provides a clearer view of what’s happening above us and around their own devices.
UNSW Founders was with them early - HEO participating in the very first UNSW 10x Accelerator, gaining mentorship to help the company grow sustainably. They went on to be accepted into Y Combinator - the famous US accelerator program behind Airbnb, Stripe, Reddit and Dropbox.
Early on, the HEO team had the ambition to do something no one else was doing, and they achieved something few thought was possible. They captured an image of the International Space Station from another satellite; something that doesn’t sound so hard until you realise it was travelling at 36,000 km/h, over 300 kms away.
They proved the impossible, possible and now they are the global leaders in space imagining.
William Crowe & Dr. Hiranya Jayakody
All of this started with a single PhD student asking a question no one had answered yet.
The Peter Farrell Cup exists for people who are asking the same questions.
The Peter Farrell Cup is UNSW's flagship student startup competition, and it has a dedicated stream and prizes for Postgraduates and PhD students to bring their ideas to life.
All you need is a problem worth solving and the drive to start working on it.
Will’s story shows what happens when it finds one.
If you're always thinking about how things could work better, the Peter Farrell Cup is your opportunity to turn those ideas into something real.