Australian Space Policy will cover both Defence and Civilian Space

In the recent article for Flight Global found here, Michael Green has indicated that the new Australian Space Policy will cover both Defence and Civilian Space activities in Australia.

He has also indicated a few more topics that are currently being considered by the Space Policy Unit including:

 "climate change, weather forecasting, natural resource management, forestry and agriculture, disaster management, national security, communications, Earth observation and remote sensing, position navigation and timing applications"

NBN study recommends satellites used for solution

The recent NBN implementation study which can be found here has supported the use of satellite broadband coverage to the most remote populations within Australia as the most cost effective method for the last few percentiles of Australia’s population.

The study states:


“The Implementation Study therefore recommends that NBN Co deploy two Ka-band satellites with the ability to cover the 7 percent of premises outside the fibre footprint and provisioned for up to 350,000 activated premises with sufficient throughput to enable a substantial increase in average data rates from today”

NBN Co has recently been soliciting responses from the satellite industry for the supply of a Ka band satellite capability, involving two satellites. One would suggest that this recommendation will allow NBN Co to proceed to the next step and start a formal RFP sometime soon.

The use of Satellite to provided high speed broadband to remote Australia is a great example of how Australia can use Space technologies to provide cost effective solutions to everyday Australians. I hope as part of the NBN Co process we will also see some of the satellite development done in Australia.

Space Balloon crashes in the Australian Outback

Whilst it has been well reported across the internet, the recent NASA balloon launch carrying the University of California, Berkeley's Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) had a spectacular launch failure recently near Alice Springs. In fact, by the sounds of things, we are lucky not to be reporting the first Space related fatality in Australia.

The balloon broke free from its anchor cables after a freak gust of wind, sending the payload smashing into the ground, and overturning a 4WD in the process. Fortunately the payload just missed several spectators before crashing and almost completely destroying the ultra sensitive payload.

Here’s the raw ABC video from the launch.

Tidbinbilla AIAA Historic Aerospace Site dedication

The Sydney Section of the AIAA has announced that the Tidbinbilla, Honeysuckle Creek and Orroral Valley Space Tracking Stations have been designated as global AIAA Historic Aerospace Sites.

There will be a site dedication at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex on the 25th of May at 10am. Attendance at the event is by invitation only.

For more information head here:

https://info.aiaa.org/Regions/Int/Sydney/Lists/Calendar/DispForm.aspx?ID=27

Public lecture: New Developments in Space Exploration, Defence and Commerce

The AIAA Sydney Section is putting on a Public Lecture at 6:30pm on the 24th of May, to be given by AIAA President David Thompson, Chairman & CEO, Orbital Sciences Corporation.

Everybody is welcome, and no RSVP is required, so get on down to the Japan Theatre, Questacon, King Edward Tce, Parkes, ACT if you can.

Further information can be found at:
https://info.aiaa.org/Regions/Int/Sydney/Lists/Calendar/DispForm.aspx?ID=28

Video footage of the announcement of the Space Industry Innovation Council at Uni SA

For those who haven't seen it, here is some footage of Minister Carr announcing the Space Industry Innovation Council at the University of South Australia.

Draft ASDC Program announced

 The National Space Society of Australia has released a draft program for the 11th Australian Space Development Conference to be held in Adelaide on the 5th to the 7th of July. This year, the ASDC will also host a parallel technical conference by the Engineers Australia’s National Committee on Space Engineering called the “National Space Engineering Symposium”.

The ASDC conference Plenary Sessions include:
• Australian Space On The Move
• Capacity Building: The Role of Government
• Australia's Dependence on Space Services: A Report Card
• New Directions In Space: Challenges and Opportunities for Australia
• Charting the Future Direction
• "Lost in Space": 18 Months On

It is clear that the ASDC conference is expanding quite heavily this year, linked to the recent uptake in the Australian Space Sector. There are four parallel tracks, with a wide range of topics that are directly relevant to the Australian Space Industry.

If you are interested in the Australian Space Industry, I can highly recommend attending this conference, as it is the premier event on the Australian Space calendar. The draft program can be found here.