14 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE January 2018
SPACE AGENCY by Jonathan NallyBack in orbit
It’s all systems go for an Australian national space agency.
FIFTY YEARS AFTER IT BECAME the
fourth country to launch a satellite
from its own soil, Australia will finally
get its own national space agency.
The announcement was made at the
International Astronautical Congress in
Adelaide in September.
An Expert Reference Group,
appointed to review Australia’s space
industry capability, is considering the
best ways in which to establish the
agency and define its role.
“The global space industry is growing
rapidly and it’s crucial that Australia
is part of this growth,” said the Acting
Minister for Industry, Innovation
and Science, Senator Michaelia Cash.
“A national space agency will ensure
we have a strategic long-term planthat supports the development and
application of space technologies and
grows our domestic space industry.
The agency will be the anchor for our
domestic coordination and the front
door for our international engagement.”
The Reference Group will develop a
charter for the space agency as part of a
wider space industry strategy, and will
report by the end of March 2018.
The announcement was welcomed
by industry and research groups. CSIRO
Chief Executive, Dr Larry Marshall,
called it a “great opportunity for
Australia’s domestic space industry”.
“As the lead agency managing
Australia’s facilities for radio astronomy
and spacecraft tracking — including
the iconic Dish and the Canberra DeepSpace Communication Complex — we
understand the huge opportunities
Australia has for leveraging its
capability,” Dr Marshall said.
“We engage with more than 30
[small and medium enterprises] on a
variety of space-related activities, have
had more than 1700 students from
across the world taking part in our
space education programs, and have
hundreds of people working across
our aerospace and astronomy research
portfolio, spanning astronomy, sensors,
satellites, earth observation, big data,
robotics and 3D printing,” he added.
“The CSIRO has long believed in the
opportunity created by collaboration
— bringing our diverse perspectives
and skills together, underpinned by a
deep science expertise — to create the
best outcome for Australia. This is no
different for our opportunity in space.”
In a related development, CSIRO has
signed an agreement with UK-based
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL)
for a 10% share of ‘tasking and
acquisition’ time on a new satellite
called NovaSAR, soon to launch.
NovaSAR will take high-resolution
radar images of Earth from space.
Australia has also reaffirmed its
support for NASA’s activities, with the
re-signing of the joint Australia-US
space treaty first implemented 50
years ago. The Space Tracking Treaty
covers facilities owned by NASA within
Australia, such as the Canberra Deep
Space Communication Complex, as well
as installations in Western Australia
and the Northern Territory.
“The signing of this treaty comes at a
very important time in the development
of the space industry in Australia
given the Turnbull Government’s
commitment to establish a national
space agency,” Minister Cash said.
“Australia plays an integral part in
space vehicle tracking having assisted in
almost all of NASA’s human and robotic
missions to space,” she added. “Our
space collaboration with the United
States of America began in 1957 with
the establishment of a radio tracking
facility in Woomera and was formalised NASA/R. SIMMON/R. STÖCKLI