ADF to purchase the remainder of the UHF SatComs Payload

 Image: Boeing - Intelsat 22

Following on from the ADF’s purchase of part of the UHF hosted payload on Intelsat’s satellite Intelsat 22 in April of 2009, the ADF has now exercised its option to purchase the remainder of the communications payload.

The new announcement involves an additional cost of $193 million dollars, taking the total project value under Joint Project 2008 Phase 5A to $475.1 million.

The Minister for Defence Senator Faulkner also announced that Australia and the US have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on sharing UHF communications resources, essentially providing the US with access to the Australian capability, and Australia with access to US UHF comms capacity over the Pacific Ocean.

Intelsat 22 is currently being built by Boeing, and is anticipated to be launched in the first quarter of 2012, and be positioned at 72 degrees East.

Another example of Australian government money being spent in the Space domain, but without long term support to an Australian Space industry, we loose all of our space money, jobs and expertise overseas.

JAXA's Hayabusa spacecraft to land at Woomera

The Japanese Space Agency (JAXA)'s Hayabusa spacecraft will be landing in the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia in June. In doing so, the Hayabusa spacecraft will be the first spacecraft to perform an Asteroid sample return mission.

Launched in May of 2003, the spacecraft met up with the Itokawa asteroid in 2005. Whilst its sample mission was not fully successful, it is highly likely that some asteroid material has entered into the sample chamber, and will be able to be analysed upon landing.

Australia will be playing a significant role in assisting JAXA in the spacecraft landing and recovery, particularly through the Woomera range support activities. I'd also be interested to find out which government departments are actually involved in the coordination - clearly Innovation and Defence, but who is doing what?

Both the Innovation Minister Kim Carr, and Defence Minister John Faulkner issued a joint ministerial media release on the Hayabusa landing which can be found here.

Another good step in the ever increasing pace of Australian Space activities.

Good luck to everyone involved in the landing!

A New, Comprehensive Space Policy for Australia?

There is more and more coming out that the new Space Policy Unit in Canberra is working hard to develop a new Space Policy for Australia. In fact, we could see something by mid 2010 if we’re lucky!


As part of the original mandate of the Space Policy Unit, the development of a new Space Policy for Australia has been on-going since the announcement on the 1st of July 2009, when the Space Policy Unit was established.


So, what can we expect in the new policy?


Well, it’s not just coincidence that there have been several major space domain specific publications released in Australia in the last 12 months. Firstly, in July 2009, The Australian Academy of Sciences and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering released a document called “An Australian Strategic Plan for Earth Observations from Space”. If you haven’t read it, head here. It contained 9 recommendations including the recommendation of a National Earth Observations from Space Policy, and an National Earth Observations from Space Office.


The second key document, which will be released between March and May of 2010, is the “First Decadal Plan for Australian Space Science”. A Pre-release of this document was published on the 26th of January 2010, and it has been under development for a significant amount of time, so it is likely to be a big influence on the Space Policy Unit. This document is key for two reasons, firstly, as it has significant consensus among the Australian Space Science community, and secondly, as it presents a long term plan. The Plan outlines a series of Space Science programs, and looks to use these programs not just to achieve the science, but also build up a strong Australian Space community in the process. The plan can be found here.


The third key document has not yet been released. Mr Brett Biddington, with the assistance of Mr Roy Sach are currently developing a paper for the Kokoda Foundation entitled “A Space Policy for Australia: Challenges and Opportunities”, which is due for release in very shortly (April 2010). Why I have sighted this as the 3rd main document, is that both Brett Biddington and Roy Sach are highly influential people within the Australian Space sector, and their views appear to be both heard, and well accepted by the current government. When their paper is released, head to the Kokoda Foundation website to read it.


Put together, these three documents are all likely to point to some sort of structured Australian Space Office or, dare I use the word, Australian Space Agency. There is definitely a good appreciation within the current Australian Government (at least compared to the previous government) that Space is truly important to Australia, and that we’re currently falling behind where we should be, or as the Senate committee titled their report, Australia is currently “Lost in Space”.


It is also likely that this Space Office, or Space Agency will have (at least) three key areas or divisions within it, Earth Observation, Communications/Navigation, and Science. This will ensure that within these three area’s, the Australian government will start to develop some genuine competency, and we can then really start asking the right questions that for so many years we have been silent upon.


In my mind, there are two key questions that are still very open in Australian Space policy, and may be discussed further in Brett Biddington’s paper.


Firstly, how will the Australian Defence Force fit into any Australian Space policy? The ADF is currently engaging seriously in the Space domain, and both its use of, and interest in space is rapidly growing at the moment. So, will the Australian Space Policy examine this question, or will we create a genuine civil / military distinction in our activities from the outset, leaving Defence to do their own work in space, and ensuring any Australian Space Office/Agency is a purely civilian organisation.


The Second, and more difficult question to answer, is what to do with the existing civilian government agencies and organisations in Australia that are currently doing space, or close to space type work, such as CSIRO, IPS, Geoscience Australia, Bureau of Meteorology, and the various Astronomy organisations? Should elements of these organisations be moved within the Space Office/Agency? Should the Space Office be similar to the British National Space Council, and just be a meeting point for all of those agencies? Perhaps if anything, British experience tells us that the Agency model is perhaps more suite to the Space domain.


So, with all of those questions and ideas to think about, we rapidly await the Space Policy Unit to release their policy.


My true hope is that whatever policy is developed, it becomes “long-term” in its outlook, and does not become a partisan political issue. If it can achieve these two points, it could truly form the basis for an Australian Space future.

NBNCo looking for a Satellite Specialist - Ground Systems

The new Australian Government telecommunications company NBNCo, who is potentially going to acquire 2 communications satellites in the next year or two is currently looking for a "Satellite Specialist - Ground Systems".

The job description states:

"In this key role, you will be responsible for Responsible for supporting all technical, quality and scheduling aspects of the definition, evaluation, acquisition and procurement of satellite ground systems segment from project inception to launch of in-orbit service and beyond."

Its good to see them building up an experience Satellite team at NBNCo, further strengthening the chances that the comms sats will go ahead.

For anyone interested, go to the NBNCo website: http://www.nbnco.com.au/

or directly to the job advert if this link works.

http://jobs.nbnco.com.au/job/job_details.cfm?id=460605&from=

It’s time for Australia’s first Weather Satellite

MTSAT-1R (image JMA)

Where do we currently stand for our geostationary weather forecasting. The US, Japan and China at the moment, provides us with most of our weather data from the NOAA-17 and NOAA-18, MTSAT-1R and FY-2C satellite’s in Geostationary orbit. As far as I am aware, these countries provide this data to Australia entirely free, and we have never contributed a single dollar to the construction of these satellites, despite being almost completely dependent on them.

Now some would label this situation fantastic – all our data, for free. Others would suggest that it is a form of first world aid, whereby Australia is grouped with all of the other countries that need to rely on foreign countries for their basic needs.

I want to take a slightly different angle on this one. I say we now need to invest in an Australian weather satellite system, primarily, we need to get the best data possible for Australia. Japanese Weather Satellites that we rely on heavily are tailored for Japan's specific needs and weather conditions - providing measurements suitable for Japan. And why wouldn’t they? Japan pays full cost for the system, so why wouldn’t they have the best coverage? Coverage for many GEO meteorology satellites often provide higher resolution and better capabilities for the specific countries that fund the systems.

This means Australia is being left behind. And what’s worse, is the area we are being left behind in is our weather and climate information. Crucial for our agriculture, our disaster monitoring, our economy, and the lives of Australians.

The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has been doing some fantastic work for well over 100 years, and I have no doubt that they will continue to do great work in the future. However, it is now time that we give them world class equipment, to do world class work, tailored to look down on Australia, with the best possible data for Australia. This would also allow us to stop freeloading on our friends, and allow us to contribute valuable data back to them in return for the free ride we’ve been having for so long.

Yes it costs money, but if we can better forecast our rainfall, our droughts, our cyclones and our climate change, the long term economic benefits will far outweigh the initial infrastructure cost.

Australian Space Science and Astronomy a big winner in the Super Science Fellowships Scheme

As part of the Super Science Fellowships scheme, the Australian government has announced that 33 fellowships within the Space Science and Astronomy field have been successful, with 17 commencing in 2010 and 16 commencing in 2011.

In particular, several of the awarded fellowships relate to technologies and science that will directly support the Square Kilometre Array project, directly enhancing Australia’s chances in hosting the major international facility.

The successful 2010 fellowships in Space Science and Astronomy include:
The Galaxy Genome Project 1 – The Anglo Australian Observatory
Space science and astronomy: New eyes on old stars: Decoding late-stage stellar evolution. – Macquarie University
A New Era for Australian Exoplanetary Science – The University of New South Wales
New Dimensions in Radio Astronomy: Mining Sparse Datasets with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder – The University of Sydney
Towards operational monitoring of key climate parameters from synthetic aperture radar – The University of Melbourne (although it is not within the Space Science and Astronomy category)
Peering through the Dark Ages with the Murchison Widefield Array – The University of Melbourne
Supporting early science from the Murchison Widefield Array - a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescope – Curtain University of Technology (WA)
Neutral Hydrogen in the Universe – The University of Western Australia
Geophysical, Galactic, and Extra-Galactic Science with the AuScope and Australian Pathfinder Arrays – The University of Tasmania
Large-scale maps of the universe: Enabling wide-field science with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and the Square Kilometre Array – CSIRO



The successful 2011 fellowships in Space Science and Astronomy include:

The Galaxy Genome Project 2 – The Anglo Australian Observatory
Space Science and Astronomy: Dissecting the Galaxy with High Resolution Multi-Object Echelle Spectrograph (HERMES) II: Decisive Observations – Macquarie University
Accretion and Feedback in Galaxies with Cosmic Time – The University of Sydney
Australia Surveys the Galaxies: The Central Role of Environment – Monash University
Mass Assembly of Galaxies In the Cosmos: the roles of stars, gas, and metals – Swinburne University of Technology
Supporting early science from the Murchison Widefield Array - a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) pathfinder telescope – Curtin University of Technology
Establishing the reference frame using astronomical and space-geodetic observations – The University of Tasmania
Exploiting the discovery of ultra-faint dwarf galaxies in the southern hemisphere sky – Australian National University

Full details on the ARC website at:

http://www.arc.gov.au/media/major_announce.htm

A Capability Index for the Australian Space Research Program

The Space Policy Unit is getting together a “Capability Index”, that will basically be used as a networking tool for potentially interested candidates for the Australian Space Research program.

The index comes with the usual government caveats that they don’t endorse any of the capabilities.

Perhaps the Capability Index can grow in the future to be used as more of a survey of Australian Space capabilities? I would suggest that the Space Policy Unit could also migrate the data that they have from similar previous databases that they held. I also hope that they make an effort to contact many relevant companies and organisations to fill in the index, otherwise it will end up providing a non-representative overview of the Australian Space industry.

Full details can be found at:

http://www.innovation.gov.au/Industry/Space/Pages/AustralianSpaceResearchProgram-CapabilityIndex.aspx