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THE SPACE DOMAIN FOREWORD: Deputy Head of the Australian Space Agency Anthony Murfett It’s been two years since the Australian Space Agency was established. While the Agency is ensuring Australia makes a bold and lasting contribution to the global space economy, we are also reviving the nation’s excitement in space. Australia is not a new player when it comes to space. We have a strong history as the launching pad for space activities and international collaboration. From 1950s-70s, there was a considerable amount of space activity happening in Australia. We established an active sounding rocket program in 1958, were one of the earliest nations to put a satellite into orbit with WRESAT-1 in 1967, and supported Europe’s Europa satellite launcher and the UK’s Black Arrow satellite launcher, with both lifting off from Woomera in South Australia. When Australia formalised its 4
relationship with NASA through the Space Cooperation Agreement in 1960, the foundation was laid for a continued cooperative program between our countries. By the end of the 1960s, we were host to the largest number of NASA tracking stations outside of the United States. Today, the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex is an integral part of NASA’s Deep Space Network. The complex tracks more than 40 robotic spacecraft from dozens of nations exploring the solar system and beyond. From 1968-1972, NASA’s Australian tracking stations all played an important part in supporting the Apollo program. When Apollo 11 made the first successful landing on the Moon in July 1969, Australia was instrumental in broadcasting that “one giant leap” to the world. During the Apollo 13 emergency, NASA’s Australian stations and the Parkes Observatory were crucial in tracking and communicating with astronauts aboard the spacecraft to aid the rescue mission. Today, Australia’s collaboration with NASA includes agreements with the Australian Space Agency, Geoscience Australia, CSIRO and the Australian Antarctic Division. It’s a collaboration that extends across all states and territories, and supports areas such as vehicle tracking, robotics and automation, earth observation, astronomy and optical communications. As announced by the Prime Minister late last year, the Australian Space Agency will play a significant role supporting NASA on their inspirational plans to place the first women and next man on the Moon under the Artemis program, while also supporting a range of other activities on the Moon and Mars in years to come through our own Moon to Mars initiative. While we have an important space history, we are now ensuring Australia becomes, and remains, a key player in the global space economy. While space conjures images of planets, rockets and astronauts, space has made a bold entrance into a commercial phase. Pre-COVID-19, the global space industry was valued at being worth US$350 billion, and by 2040, was expected to be worth more than US $1.1 trillion. As is the case
overseas, Australia’s commercial space sector is experiencing accelerated growth, largely due to the rapidly evolving nature of space technology and the greater use of these technologies to support our lives here on Earth. Te c h n o l o g y i s n o w s m a l l e r, innovation cycles are shorter and costs to access space are lower. We use satellites to locate and navigate where we are on our phones, to understand weather patterns, to monitor water levels or crops, to track and respond to natural disasters and emergencies, and boosting digital technologies by connecting satellites to the Internet of Things. It was within this context that the Australian Space Agency was established on 1 July 2018 to grow and transform the Australian space industry. The Agency’s driving force is to triple the size of Australia’s space sector to $12 billion and create up to 20,000 additional jobs in the industry by 2030. It’s a big endeavour that is tied to Australia’s space industry strategy, the Australian Civil Space 2019-2028, and we are on track to deliver. The strategy outlines a staged plan to achieve this and is underpinned by seven national priority areas including earth observation, communication technologies and services, positioning, navigation and timing, and robotics. Australia has a unique competitive advantage in these areas that we know can valuably contribute to the space economy and the international community is keen to utilise. The Australian Civil Space Strategy also outlines the targets for measuring the Agency’s role in growing the industry. The investment target was to stimulate at least a $1 billion pipeline of inward capital investment in Australia’s space industry between 2019 and 2025, including Research and Development (R&D) and infrastructure investment. We are currently tracking a $2 billion pipeline of capital projects, including R&D in all states and territories. We are also on track to achieve yearly growth of the Australian space industry that exceeds 8.5 per cent per annum. From 2018-19, the Australian space sector employed approximately 13,200 people. This represents an employment
