Retiring the Space Boomerang Blog

Dear Blogosphere,

I've decided to hang up my blogging boots.

I have enjoyed writing about the Australian Space Industry over the last three and a half years, but life has got in the way of blogging, and with the recent release of the Australian Space Policy, it is a good time for me to wind things up.

I originally started this blog to stay in touch with the industry while I was working overseas. I also realised that there was a lack of social commentary about the Australian Space Industry, that didn't involve people who just wanted Australia to land an astronaut on the moon. In the mean time, the Australian Space Industry has come forward in leaps and bounds, and there is now a strong, and growing community, supported by Australia's first true space policy.

Some interesting facts about this Blog:

1. It has had around 45,000 hits over its time, and gets around 2,000 a month at the moment.
2. The most popular blog post, was this one on Australia's Space Needs: Bushfire Detection and Mapping. Surprisingly, it was three times greater in hits than any other post I've written!
3. During the blog I've had the pleasure of being contacted my countless numbers of people within the Space Industry in Australia, as well as a number of people from overseas.
4. When I started the blog back in February 2010, the Australian Space Research Program was just kicking off, and an Australian Space Policy was the start of a work in progress. Both are now completed, and very successful. 
5. The countries where I received the most hits from (in order) were - the United States, Australia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Ukraine, Canada, Slovenia and India.

For those of you who have contacted me, commented to me, tweeted with me, or just shown a keen interest in what I've had to say, I thank you. 

For those who still want to contact me, I'll be keeping the spaceboomerang@gmail.com address open for a while. I'll also keep the blog live as a record of Australian Space activities over these years.

Thanks for stopping by and reading Space Boomerang, and I hope that you've learnt as much as I have over these years.

Space Boomerang

Australian Satellite Utilisation Policy Analysis and Thoughts

Assistant Industry and Innovation Minister Kate Lundy today released Australia’s long awaited Satellite Utilisation Policy today at Mount Stromlo. In essence it is Australia’s first Space Policy, and one that has been under consultation and development for many years now. It can be found on the Australian Government Space website here, or direct download link here.

The opening line probably summarises the document best ‘Australia aims to achieve on-going, cost-effective access to the space capabilities on which the nation relies now and in the future’. This is what we need as the bare minimum from our space policy. It is also clear from the outset, that the document wants to head off any speculation that we’re about to send Aussie’s to the moon, by focussing more on Satellites and satellite utilisation – ‘Australia’s Satellite Utilisation Policy does not commit Australia to human spaceflight, domestic launch capabilities or to the exploration of other planets.’ It also commences with a strong case as to why Australia needs a space policy, helps justify the clear need for an Australian space policy.

The policy identifies the overall goal for the Australian Space Policy as:

Achieve on-going, cost-effective access to the space capabilities on which we rely.

And follows up with five major benefits that will flow to Australia by achieving this goal, including:

• Improved Productivity: space capabilities such as satellite imagery and high accuracy positioning deliver information that brings about greater efficiencies and encourages innovation.
• Better Environmental Management: satellite information enables effective environmental management across Australia’s extensive and often inaccessible land and ocean territory.
• A Safe and Secure Australia: space capabilities are important contributors to national security, law enforcement and to the safety of all Australians in disasters.
• A Smarter Workforce: space capabilities help transform existing industries and build new ones that provide quality jobs.
• Equity of Access to Information and Services: satellite communications enable high-speed, universal access to TV broadcasting, internet and telephone services.

The policy then examines how it will achieve each of the seven principles that were previously released by the government, providing a much more comprehensive definition on what the government will do to achieve each of the principles.

The document concludes by providing some description of how the organisation or space responsibility will be achieved under the new policy.

Overall, I am delighted with the policy document, and the government should be commended for its extensive consultation process with all industry stakeholders over the past few years. The document has taken a constructive and positive approach to the Australian space sector, whilst remaining measured and conservative in what it is trying to achieve, which I believe will ultimately contribute to its sustainability, community support and overall success.  

There are several specific points of the policy that I am very pleased to see:

• The document forms its basis around the economic benefits to Australia from space – ‘Over four billion dollars of GDP is derived from space capabilities.’ I believe this approach lends credibility and weight to the policy, and improves the justification of the policy to the Australian public.
•  Principle 4 – Contribute to a Stable Space environment – which will allow the Department of Foreign Affairs to ramp up Australia’s diplomatic efforts in protecting the space environment for all to use, but also in negotiating international agreements surrounding space.
• Several mentions about the education, skills and capability needs of the industry, and identification of how these can and should be improved
• Linkages between defence and civilian space – should be kept separate at government level, but due to size of Australia, both defence and civilian space need to be supported by a single and coherent Australian space community.
• Specific identification of our priority allies and partners, as well as a desire to increase cooperation with countries in our region – ‘Relationships with key allies and partners including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, Japan and the European Union are a priority. Consistent with the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper, Australia will increase its engagement with regional neighbours with expanding capabilities that may complement Australia’s space capabilities.’ It will certainly be interesting to see what follows with each of the nations mentioned.
• The strong statements related to the increase of Australian defence space capabilities, which mirror other public defence strategy positions. I will be keeping a close eye on the next defence white paper to see if there are any new space capabilities announced. I also like the idea of the establishment of the ‘Space Community of Interest’ within defence to bring together ‘interested parties from industry, academia and government together to explore vulnerabilities, including interdependencies between space-related infrastructure and critical infrastructure, and to develop options to mitigate risk.’ This will help leverage the skills and expertise beyond those within the defence department themselves.
•  Clear responsibility split between civil and defence space in Australia, whilst encouraging the broader community to link together to support both sides

There are a couple of areas that are not in the policy that could be improved over time:

• The lack of industry growth targets. Notably, the UK space policy includes an export growth target of 10% of the global market by 2030. Australia lacks any concrete targets to work towards, perhaps not so focussed on the export side of things, but more related to growing the industry in Australia as a whole. This is something that I would like to see in future worked into our space policy.
•  Australia has headed down the ‘cross-agency coordination office’ path, which was very similar to what the UK did with its space policy originally. More recently, the UK has moved to a dedicated Space Agency model. In the short term, I believe that the ‘cross-agency coordination office’ path is  also the best policy for Australia to adopt, and it was prudent to take this approach at this time. It will help bring together and coordinate the disparate functions of the government. I do however believe that longer term a stand-alone agency represents the best solution for Australia, to bring all of the space capability within a single organisation inside government.
• My first impression was that the Space Policy Unit (SPU) was no-longer going to exist, given the policy is now developed, and there is no funding in the future estimates for the SPU. However the policy identifies that the SPU within the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education ‘will be the chair and secretariat of the SCC’. I can only presume that somehow a small level of funding will be included in the upcoming budget for the SPU to continue in some form.
• In the media release surrounding the Policy announcement today Senator Lundy announced “from 1 July 2013, a new Space Coordination Office in the Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education would be responsible for coordinating Australia’s domestic civilian space activities and showcasing that excellence.” Which is unusual, as the Policy document itself doesn’t specifically refer to the Space Coordination Office, nor is it represented on the figure 1 diagram showing how the various committees interrelate.
• The Policy announcement has not been in conjunction with any new funding initiatives such as an extension of the highly successful Australian Space Research Program, or even identification of funding for the government departments that will be in charge of implementing the new policy. My guess is we will have to wait and see what is in the upcoming budget on May 14^th 2013.

Finally, let me congratulate all of those involved in the development of the policy. The smart and dedicated people at the Space Policy Unit in Canberra have brought together a comprehensive Space policy document since they were founded on the 1^st of July 2009, which was built essentially from a clean sheet of paper.

Make no mistake; the space policy is an enormous and monumental step for the Australian Space Industry, and one that we have needed for several decades.

It is however, just the beginning of Australia’s rising space journey. 

Australian Space Policy to be called "Satellite Utilisation Policy"

It is understood that Australia's first national space policy is in the throws of debate within federal cabinet, and has been renamed the "Satellite Utilisation Policy".

In what is seen as a strong reflection of Australia's ongoing awkwardness with the space domain and policy, the renaming of the Australian Space Policy demonstrates that politically, the policy needs to focus on the use of space technology for solving Australia's national problems, rather than a general association with the space activities of other international space agencies.

Previously the Space Policy Unit has focussed on what was called a 'National Space Industry Policy' - reflecting a focus that the policy would be directed towards 'industry development' rather than space in general. The new name demonstrates a very practical focus to the policy - likely centered around the workhorse applications of Telecommunications, Earth Observation, and Position, Navigation and Timing - the  technologies that most Australian's use every day without ever considering that they are using Space technology.

There are some implicit implications of this change of focus within the policy. Where does this leave Australian space science? Science is not traditionally considered a utilisation of satellites - perhaps science is excluded from the policy consideration all together? If so, where does this leave the Australian Space Science Decadal Plan?

How will this change of focus be perceived internationally? By excluding the broader space domain, will the policy address legal and diplomatic aspects of space? Is Australia serious about becoming an active diplomatic middle power nation, when we don't have a policy that covers an area underpinning our national economic, military and environmental future? Will international space agencies feel confused about Australia's direction within the space domain, and how will the new policy focus change how they interact with Australia?

What about defence - will the policy be a whole of government policy with civilian and defence activities covered? In Australia, we struggle to sustain a single space community - let alone two communities with limited interaction.

What I do know is that most people in Australia still think of putting man on the moon when the topic of space comes up, and why would Australia want to spend bucket loads of money on that?

Short to mid term, the focus of the space policy as a 'Satellite Utilisation Policy' is likely insulate the policy from major criticism surrounding the 'waste of money' theme associated with manned exploration, and allow Australia to start changing the conversation to - why are we not better using these technologies and industries to better solve our problems. It is also more likely to receive better parliamentary support, providing a more sustainable future for the Space Sector in general.

Australian Space Funding - Back down to Earth or Ready to Launch?

As we approach the announcement of the 2012/2013 Budget, the space industry is staring down a cross roads of its future in Australia.

Winding the clock back to the 2009/2010 Federal Budget, $48.6 Million was budgeted accross the next four years for two things - $40 Million to setup the Australian Space Research Program (ASRP), and $8.6 Million to setup the Space Policy Unit (SPU).

The ASRP has seen 14 grants awarded across the four selection rounds. Of these, there were 4 grants awarded under Stream A (Education) and 10 awarded under Stream B (Space Science and Innovation). A total of 61 different organisations have been part of the ASRP, and the program requires that recipients match grant funding by at least 1 to 1, so over $80 Million in value has been created by the program. Overall the ASRP has been a stunning success, and has re-established a small, but growing space industry in a relatively short time frame.

The Space Policy Unit was funded $8.5 million across the 4 year period, to help coordinate Australia's national and international civil space activities, including partnerships with international space agencies. In this time, the SPU has made great strides in starting to coordinate the plethora of space activities in Australia, develop the Principles for a National Space Industry Policy, and helped Australia step back onto the international space stage - particularly becoming active in international space policy again.

At an average of $12.2 Million per year, the results achieved have been very impressive, however, all of this funding expires at the end of the 2012/2013 budget.

Compare this with the US$17.7 Billion that NASA is allocated for each year, and you start to get a feeling for the severity of the lack of funding for Space in Australia.

Now this is not to say that Australia doesn't spend a lot on space or that space doesn't deliver value to the Australian economy. In the recent times we have seen several parts of the government actively involved in the Space domain - recently the NBNCo signed a deal with Space Systems Loral for 2 Ka-band telecommunications satellites for $620 Million, the defence department has spent $927 Million on joining the Wideband Global Satellite Communications constellation, a joint Australian / U.S. Space Surveillance facility was announced for W.A., and Geoscience Australia valued the contribution of Earth Observation to the Australian economy at over $3.3 Billion.

At this point - we need to ask ourselves, is a meagre $12.2 million per year spent by the Australian Government worth it? Is it enough?

Clearly the investments made in the SPU and the ASRP have been both worth it, and at the very least the Australian government needs to commit in this year's budget to extending this funding for the next five years. If this commitment is not made, the SPU and ASRP would effectively shut down at the end of next year's budget - a disastrous outcome for Australia.

Furthermore, the SPU and ASRP funding should be expanded - to deliver a national space policy and start undertaking more ambitious space projects that address Australia's national priorities.

In doing so, we should draw together the various government departments that are actively involved in Space to more effectively and efficiently apply our limited resources. We should also examine long term strategies of how we can develop more self-reliance, and avoid sending giant cheques overseas every time we need to purchase critical space infrastructure.

Back in November 2008, the Australian Senate produced a landmark report into Australia's Space Sector entitled: Lost in Space? Setting a new direction forAustralia's space science and industry sector. Since then we've made great strides - but it is now time to accelerate, not to go back to where we were then.

It is time for Australia to re-commit to its space priorities in this year's budget.

Moon Mining: BHP's next frontier?

Australia's BHP Billiton is, by anyone's standard, a big company. In fact, it is the world's largest mining company by revenue, and is one of the world's biggest companies by market capitalisation. In August this year, it announced the biggest profit in Australian corporate history, and most of the investments it announces are spoken about in tens of billions of dollars. In fact, BHP is actually bigger than the economy of many small nations around the world.

They are experts at what they do - "discovery, acquisition, development and marketing of natural resources", and have a strong track record of success.

Recently, the moon has become increasingly attractive from a mining perspective with the discovery of higher concentrations of valuable and sometimes rare minerals.  This year the US Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has helped identify that the Moon has much higher amounts of Titanium Ore than previously expected, together with large quantities of platinum, iron, oxygen and an element known as Helium-3 that is rare on earth but very useful for Nuclear fusion research.

The moon is also known to have deposits of several rare-earth minerals such as Yttrium and Dysprosium, and we now know that the moon contains a small amount of water, that could be very useful for any future mining operation or settlement.

The combined quantity of these minerals has now attracted the attention of some serious entrepreneurs, who are pressing ahead with the business case of a moon mining venture. Moon Express was founded in 2011 by a set of successful silicon valley entrepreneurs, combined with some great space minds to develop a spacecraft that can take a 100kg payload to the surface of the moon, win the Google Lunar X-Prize and to build the business case to mine the moon. Whilst previous start-ups have set such goals and failed, Moon Express was founded by a group of highly successful business people who have money to invest, have received backing and support from NASA, and have already been testing several of the critical technologies required to get to the moon. They are currently looking at a 2013-2014 time frame for their first moon landing -  which is not really that far away!

Meanwhile, back closer to home, BHP Billiton and other major mining companies, are slowly perfecting the ability to operate a mine from a remote location and are turning more and more to robotic technology to run their mines, both of which are ideally suited for a moon mining operation. They have also had a remarkable few years in terms of financial results, and now have the financial reserves to look at a variety of new and major resource opportunities.

Several estimates have suggested a moon mining operation would be in the order of $20 Billion to set up, which  is similar to a medium mine setup cost on earth, and one that BHP Billiton invests on a somewhat regular basis. BHP is also one of the few companies that has the financial strength and technology to actually assess, invest and make a success of such an operation.

In addition, a moon mining venture would open up major scientific and space tourism opportunities, as well as develop a new suite of space technologies that would make the business case even more attractive. Whilst each of these may not be economically viable on their own, together the business case might make sense.

The aim of this article is not to outline the business case for mining the moon, or in fact call for BHP to start mining the moon tomorrow - I understand that this concept is not seriously considered within the mainstream space industry. The idea is rather to provoke some discussion of how we can take some of the best capabilities Australia has, and apply them to a space application to deliver real and sustainable outcomes.

Of course, such a venture will not be possible for the better part of this decade in reality, but I do believe it is time we start thinking about the real business conversation about a moon mine, that comes with a unique set of logistics challenges to say the least.

A venture such as moon mining and settlement will need to deliver financial returns to shareholders over the long term to be sustainable, and I'm not quite sure we're at that point yet. However, in the corridors of the BHP headquarters in Melbourne, is it not time that someone starts paying attention to Moon Mining? The concept has started moving from the science fiction world to the real world, and it will not be long before countries like China and India will have the technologies, resources, and the political motivation to undertake such a venture, with no competitors in the market and no other nation to interfere.

Perhaps it's time to start developing the business case numbers, and possibly even time to start looking at how such an operation could be set-up. BHP, together with a major Aerospace company such as a Lockheed Martin or Boeing, would have the resources and expertise to build an end-to-end business case, to determine at what cost the venture becomes viable.

As time goes by, we continue to find more resources on the moon and the price of launch continues to drop. At the same time, the price of resources on earth trends up, and the cost of obtaining them generally increases, as we have mined the easiest-to-access resources first.

At some point, the business case will become viable. When it does, I hope it is companies like BHP Billiton who will be amongst the pioneers of moon mining.

Why Australia needs a Cubesat Competition and Prize

Australia needs to get back into orbit. In doing so, a new generation of engineers need to learn about the technology and science required to work in space, and all of the trials and tribulations that accompany such technology. Not wanting to state the obvious, but Australia is currently not capable of building the large satellites that we need for our Earth Observation, Telecommunications and Navigation requirements. But, before we give up on any future hope, we are perfectly capable of building nano and micro satellites. In fact, there are many different projects around the country that have undertaken early work in building such satellites, but none that have achieved launch or operations.


It is time that we get these projects into orbit.


Australia should undertake a cubesat satellite competition in an effort to get us back in the space game in a rapid time frame. The competition could involve Australian teams made up of education institutions, together with industry and perhaps even governement agencies.  


To win the Australian Cubesat competition, teams would have to develop, launch and operate a Cubesat form satellite - 1U, 2U or 3U. The satellite would have to make at least 10 orbits, and transmit data taken from within space (whether that be an image, a measurement of some scientific parameter, or something else) back to an Australian ground station. Whilst cubesats are not considered capable enough to be operational satellites, the data that is sent back should demonstrate a real-world concept of a Space Application that can directly benefit Australia.


The first team to achieve the 10 orbits and data back to earth would be awarded the Australian Cubesat First prize of AUD$1Million. The second team to achieve it would be awarded a prize of $500K, and the third team $250K. Overall, the whole competition would cost less than $2Million, and provide a great boost for the Australian Space industry - and likely get Australia back into orbit again, potentially in a big way if all 3 prizes are claimed. Given cubesats can be built and launched for $250K or less, all three prizes would be very attractive.


Prize money could be provided by the Australian Government Space Policy Unit, perhaps in conjunction with Australian Industry and Private Donors as sponsors. If no-one claims the prize, the money is safe. Prizes have been shown to provide 10 to 40 times the return on investment, so given the Australian Space Research Program relies on a funding matched model, a 10+ return on investment, with payout only upon success, provides a much better return for the Australian Government in stimulating industry.


The Australian Cubesat competition would likely create at least 3 flight proven satellite operations in Australia, and a series of teams and engineers that would be dedicated to both learning, and applying their skills in real world space applications. It would stimulate the Australian Space industry across a range of areas, and allow more complex and capable follow on missions to be envisaged that can address Australian issues using space technologies. It would also be an outstanding educational opportunity for many Australian Universities and even schools to get involved in, and would serve to inspire a young generation into maths, science and engineering fields.


I would love to hear feedback from everyone on such a prize - do you think its a good idea? how could it be improved? spaceboomerang@gmail.com

Space in Australia: A mistaken identity?

From what I keep hearing, the most common response by average Australians to “Should Australia invest in Space” is “we can’t afford to send man to the moon! Why don’t we invest the money in hospitals instead?” which tells me two key things about Space in Australia.

Firstly, that Australians are not fully aware of what Space technologies are used for. Despite what Aussies think, Space is not just about sending Man to the Moon. Sure, human space exploration is a highly visible and inspiring part of Space technology, but overall, it’s actually quite a small part of the global space industry – less than 5% of the overall US$260 Billion Space Market in 2010.

What makes up most of the space industry, is technologies that improve the lives of people on earth, every single day, such as telecommunications, navigation and positioning, weather forecasting, television broadcasting, climate monitoring and defence surveillance. It is exactly these technologies that Australia, and Australians use every day, and which underpin several aspects of our modern society. In this respect, the perception of Space for Australians is quite a long way away from the reality.

The second point that the response tells me is that Australians think that Space would be a poor investment for Australia to make, and that there are much higher priorities.

I fully agree with the argument that hospital funding is vital in Australia, and more funding can always help the hospital system, however Space is also a vital part of Australian society, it just receives extremely little funding from Government – in stark contrast to most other developed economies.

When a cyclone or bushfire is bearing down on your house and an Earth Observation satellite gives you enough advanced warning to save lives and minimise economic damage, an Earth Observation Satellite is a good investment. When satellite telecommunications makes up a US$80B industry globally, and “has probably had more effect than any other space technology on the average Australian”, providing telephone, television, radio and internet connectivity to a massive number of Australians, a telecommunications satellite is a good investment. When up to 10% of your economy depends on Precision Navigation, Positioning and Timing, then GPS type systems become a good investment. This is not to say that other government funded areas like hospitals aren’t important, but that investment in Space technology and capabilities are also important.

The Australia space policy that will be released in 2011, is likely not to include Australia sending a man to the moon. What it is likely to focus upon, is exactly those technologies that we use, and are already vital to Australia – Earth Observation, Satellite Communications, and Position, Navigation and Timing. Not only is this approach the right one, but it will help change the perception in Australia that Space is only about “Sending Man to the Moon”, helping sustain support for space funding over the longer term.

As Australian Space professionals, we also have an obligation to help change the debate in Australia from “we can’t afford to send man to the moon” to “why don’t we have satellites to help better forecast our weather, measure climate change, connect our households and protect our shores?” It is not enough for us to expect the public opinion to evolve naturally to understand what we often take for granted.

It’s time we take back Space in Australia for what it really is.