In a widely expected, but somewhat controversial decision, the Square Kilometer Array facility has been awarded to both Australia and South Africa.
It is understood that Australia / New Zealand have been awarded the low frequency component for the SKA, whereas South Africa has been awarded the mid frequency component.
The press release states:
"The majority of SKA dishes in Phase 1 will be built in South Africa, combined with MeerKAT. Further SKA dishes will be added to the ASKAP array in Australia. All the dishes and the mid frequency aperture arrays for Phase II of the SKA will be built in Southern Africa while the low frequency aperture array antennas for Phase I and II will be built in Australia."
Congratulations to all involved from both Australia and South Africa. Whilst I'm sure everyone would have wanted the whole facility, it is a great reward to two deserving sites.
For the full press release head here.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Australian Budget Ignores Space, Threatens Future
The 2012-2013 Australian Federal Government budget has left the space industry out in the cold, with no new funding announced. This places the Australian Space Policy Unit and the Australian Space Research Program with just 12 months of funding left before they could in theory be shutdown.
Since the seed funding for the Australian Space Industry was announced back in the 2009-2010 budget, no new funding to sustain long term space activities has been announced. Whilst the original small investment has seen a resurgence in Space activities in Australia, a cloud now hangs over what will happen beyond the next financial year, placing the industry on edge as to what the long term future will be.
The Space Policy Unit is expected to release the first Australian National Space Industry Policy in the third quarter of this year, which will hopefully provide a strong direction for the industry together with the announcement of new funding that matches or exceeds current funding amounts.
Announcing a National Space Industry Policy with no funding would effectively undo some of the great achievements made over the last few years, and risk many of the economic benefits that the Space Industry brings to Australia.
All hopes rest with the upcoming policy to provide certainty for the Space Industry.
Since the seed funding for the Australian Space Industry was announced back in the 2009-2010 budget, no new funding to sustain long term space activities has been announced. Whilst the original small investment has seen a resurgence in Space activities in Australia, a cloud now hangs over what will happen beyond the next financial year, placing the industry on edge as to what the long term future will be.
The Space Policy Unit is expected to release the first Australian National Space Industry Policy in the third quarter of this year, which will hopefully provide a strong direction for the industry together with the announcement of new funding that matches or exceeds current funding amounts.
Announcing a National Space Industry Policy with no funding would effectively undo some of the great achievements made over the last few years, and risk many of the economic benefits that the Space Industry brings to Australia.
All hopes rest with the upcoming policy to provide certainty for the Space Industry.
Climate R3 Workshop to be held in Perth in late May
The Second Climate Regional Readiness Review (Climate R3) workshop will be held from the 22nd to the 25th of May 2012 in Perth, and will be held together with the APRSAF Space Applications for Environment (SAFE).
The 2nd Climate R3 workshop will further develop the Climate R3 initiative which was born out of an Australian proposal at the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) -17 held in Melbourne in 2010. The initiative is aimed at undertaking a regional readiness review for Key Climate Missions, and determining the ability of APRSAF countries to benefit from space derived data and information.
SAFE aims to establish prototype platforms for the development of solution (service) oriented application systems for climate change mitigation and adaptation by using space based earth observation technology. This workshop will report on the five on-going prototyping projects endorsed by APRSAF and review possible new prototyping projects.
The Australian Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research & Tertiary Education and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will co-host the second Climate R3.For further information, head over to the space.gov.au Climate R3 webpage here.
The 2nd Climate R3 workshop will further develop the Climate R3 initiative which was born out of an Australian proposal at the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF) -17 held in Melbourne in 2010. The initiative is aimed at undertaking a regional readiness review for Key Climate Missions, and determining the ability of APRSAF countries to benefit from space derived data and information.
SAFE aims to establish prototype platforms for the development of solution (service) oriented application systems for climate change mitigation and adaptation by using space based earth observation technology. This workshop will report on the five on-going prototyping projects endorsed by APRSAF and review possible new prototyping projects.
The Australian Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research & Tertiary Education and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will co-host the second Climate R3.For further information, head over to the space.gov.au Climate R3 webpage here.
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