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Australia in Space Magazine, Issue 6 - EDITOR'S DESK
Space technologies support critical services that improve national wellbeing and economic prosperity | Federal Minister for Industry and Science, Hon Ed Husic MP, 27 October 2022
Australia and the United States are to increase space integration and cooperation in existing operations and exercises, according to a statement released by both countries following the recent AUSMIN consultations in Brisbane.
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles met with their US counterparts Secretary of State Antony Blinkin and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on July 28 and 29 and declared Enhanced Space Cooperation as a new Force Posture Initiative to enable closer cooperation in this “critical operational domain.”
Coincidentally, this follows the Australian Government axing the AUD1.2 billion National Space Mission for Earth Observation (NSMEO) program that would have seen four domestic satellites put into space from 2028 to boost Australia’s sovereign space capability and improve access to earth observation data.
The NSMEO satellites would have provided Australia with its sovereign space assets capable of delivering a broad range of data instead of relying on foreign-owned satellites to do so, a situation the Australian Academy of Science says creates an unacceptable sovereign risk. Separately, Frontier SI research from 2021 found earth observation data contributes over AUD$5 billion annually to the Australian economy.
The current Minister for Science and Innovation, Ed Husic, said the axing was “due to budgetary reasons” and follows the decision not to provide funding to assist in developing spaceport and rocket facilities in Australia.
Professor Andrew Dempster, Director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research, UNSW Sydney commenting on the decision at a space sector conference at the University of NSW in Sydney said “I think the time has come for us, once again, to really start applying ourselves as a sector to educating the government. We managed to do that slowly when the Liberals were in power. Now that Labour is in power, we're going to have to do it all again, because they seem not to get it.”
The Australian Government is however, providing a comparatively small sum of $369 million over four years under the Trailblazer Universities Program to build new research capabilities, drive commercialisation outcomes and invest in new industry engagement opportunities. Of the six Trailblazer Universities Programs awarded, two include a strong space industry focus. Each Trailblazer University will receive $50 million, which will be matched by university and industry partners.
In this issue as part of our cover feature and coverage of the Space Sustainability Summit in New York, including Australia in Space TV interviews with the Secure World Foundation’s Dr Peter Martinez and Dr Brian Weeden, Dr Rebecca Connolly writes on the significant rise in LEO space assets and the corresponding legal and governance challenges relating to space debris, space traffic management, the dual-use of satellite technology for commercial and military purposes and the impacts on our dark and quiet skies.
The UK Space Agency’s new Director of Missions and Capability for Discovery and Sustainability Julie Black, speaking at the Summit, confirmed one of her key roles is to bring the agency’s commitment to space sustainability and management of debris into a sharper focus.
The US Space Command Deputy Director, Lt. Gen. John E. Shaw used the Summit to accuse China of a lack of space transparency, stating the transparency issue and silence from China's space agency were major concerns. With US-China space relations at a nadir, China is turning to a range of mid-tier international space agencies, like the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA). Mathias Link, the director of the LSA said even with “difficult" bilateral relationships between certain countries, for purely practical reasons, Luxembourg would continue to have conversations and cooperate with China’s space sector and sees itself as a potential bridge between the United States and China, as the space agencies barely speak to each other.
And as a federated national system of government in Australia, Dharshun Sridharan and Nipuni Silva provide Part 2 in mapping out Australia’s national and state space industry activities, which with Part 1 in the previous edition, provides an important overview for what is aptly titled the ‘United States of Australia’.
Also in this edition, Dr Eleanor Sansom, Planetary Scientist with Curtin University contributes a fascinating article on the European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice), launched in April 2023 on an eight-year voyage to unravel some of the mysteries of Jupiter and its fascinating moons. Of special interest, Juice will reach Jupiter using as little power as possible, performing multiple gravity assist manoeuvres, including a solar system first: a binary gravity assist with both our Moon and Earth, arriving at Jupiter in 2031. So stay tuned!
Finally, we publish this edition with a warm invitation to our inaugural Indo-Pacific Space and Earth Conference, 23 – 24 October in Perth for what is shaping up to be a leading industry showcase on the space and cross-sector industry events calendar. Please join us and enjoy over seventy international and national speakers covering the domains of space and cross sector industries such as mining, agriculture, autonomous systems and more, with government and civil industry representatives from Australia, USA, UK, Singapore, Japan, India, Malaysia and more.
As always, we cover the full diversity of the Australian and international space industry and there is so much more to touch on, including live, embedded content in this digital edition. Enjoy the reading, watching and listening.
