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.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
SKA Board Postpones site selection decision, hints at compromise solution
The SKA Organisation met today as expected to discuss the site selection for the SKA facility.
In a media release posted here, the organisation noted:
"The Members wished to move ahead with the site selection process, and recognised that it is desirable to maintain an inclusive approach to SKA. They noted that it is important to maximise the value from the investments made by both candidate host regions. They therefore agreed to set up a small scientific working group to explore possible implementation options that would achieve this. This working group will report back to the Members at a meeting in mid-May; its report will provide additional information to facilitate the site decision for SKA.
The Board of the SKA Organisation met on 4 April, following the Members meeting, and discussed progress of the project. The Board approved an application for Associate Membership in the SKA Organisation from India (represented by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics)."
By suggesting that 'it is important to maximise the value from the investments made by both candidate host regions', rumours will continue that a compromise solution may be under examination. Such a decision might be politically a win-win outcome, but may not be the best technical solution for the SKA.
Perhaps a shame that a decision couldn't be made today, but at least Australia is still in the hunt.
In a media release posted here, the organisation noted:
"The Members wished to move ahead with the site selection process, and recognised that it is desirable to maintain an inclusive approach to SKA. They noted that it is important to maximise the value from the investments made by both candidate host regions. They therefore agreed to set up a small scientific working group to explore possible implementation options that would achieve this. This working group will report back to the Members at a meeting in mid-May; its report will provide additional information to facilitate the site decision for SKA.
The Board of the SKA Organisation met on 4 April, following the Members meeting, and discussed progress of the project. The Board approved an application for Associate Membership in the SKA Organisation from India (represented by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics)."
By suggesting that 'it is important to maximise the value from the investments made by both candidate host regions', rumours will continue that a compromise solution may be under examination. Such a decision might be politically a win-win outcome, but may not be the best technical solution for the SKA.
Perhaps a shame that a decision couldn't be made today, but at least Australia is still in the hunt.
NASA Administrator Bolden in Australia
This week has seen NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in Australia, the first NASA administrator since 1973 to do so.
Mr Bolden visited the NASA Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla, highlighting that when the Curiosity Rover touches down on the surface of Mars on August 6th, that the CDSCC will be receiving the signal as an integral part of the mission and the only deep space facility located in the southern hemisphere. Mr Bolden also examined the current upgrades to the CDSCC facility which will see four new dishes built at the facility.
In his visit, Mr Bolden also gave an address at the University of Sydney, and visited Questacon in Canberra where he answered questions from the audience and students across Australia.
Mr Bolden at the CDSCC (Photo credit: Penny Bradfield)
Mr Bolden visited the NASA Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla, highlighting that when the Curiosity Rover touches down on the surface of Mars on August 6th, that the CDSCC will be receiving the signal as an integral part of the mission and the only deep space facility located in the southern hemisphere. Mr Bolden also examined the current upgrades to the CDSCC facility which will see four new dishes built at the facility.
In his visit, Mr Bolden also gave an address at the University of Sydney, and visited Questacon in Canberra where he answered questions from the audience and students across Australia.
Adelaide Looses bid for IAC 2014
Adelaide has lost the rights to host the International Astronautical Congress in 2014 after the IAC endorsed the Canadian bid to host the congress in Toronto.
Adelaide was one of four valid bids received by the IAF before the Feb 1st deadline, which included:
- Adelaide, Australia
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Jerusalem, Israel
- Toronto, Canada
The IAF announcement can be found here. Congratulations to the Canadian team, although we wish that the Adelaide bid could have been successful. Perhaps next time!
Monday, March 26, 2012
12th Australian Space Science Conference to be held in September
Image: National Space Society of Australia
The 12th Australian Space Science Conference (ASSC), will be held from the 24-27th of September at RMIT University in Melbourne. The conference is the premier meeting of Space Scientists throughout Australia, and attracts scientists, engineers, academia, industry and government. This will be the sixth ASSC jointly sponsored and organised by the National Committee for Space Science (NCSS) and the National Space Society of Australia (NSSA). This year's conference will cover:
- Space science
- Space engineering
- Space industry
- Space archeology
- Government, international relations and law
- Education and outreach
There will be a special session on successful, submitted, and future applications for Australian Space Research Program funding.There will also be a special session on implementation plans for the 2010 – 2019 Decadal Plan for Australian Space Science and connections to the new 2011 Strategic Roadmap for Australian Research Infrastructure.
If you are interested in Space Science in Australia, I can highly recommend attending. Further information about the conference can be found here.
(Space Boomerang Note: This article has been adapted from the NSSA conference notice here)
Australian Defence Payload Launches on Intelsat 22
Image: Boeing - Intelsat 22
The Intelsat 22 is a geostationary satellite that was built by Boeing of California which includes C- and Ku- band payloads for commercial applications, but demonstrates a new model of business for Intelsat by co-hosting international defence payloads. Intelsat is highlighting the on-time, on-budget nature of the deal to demonstrate that this kind of acquisition model can deliver a better outcome for defence departments worldwide.
The Satellite is designed for an 18 year lifetime, and was built on the 702MP platform. An interesting video of the Intelsat 22 spacecraft in integration and test is on Youtube here, with a further video on the UHF payload hosted here.
What I have found surprising - the Australia Defence Force seemed to have put out no media release or statement on the successful launch!
2011 VSSEC-NASA Australian Space Prize Winner Announced
NASA has announced the winner of the 2011 VSSEC-NASA Australian Space Prize. Lyle Roberts from The Australian National University will spend 10 weeks at the NASA Ames Research Center, as part of the NASA Academy program, where he will meet leading NASA scientists and engineers, and visit cutting edge research facilities such as JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and Kennedy Space Center. During his stay he will work on a current NASA research project “Understanding warning signs of major earthquakes” under the supervision of Principal Investigator, Friedemann T. Freund, San Jose State University Physics Dept. and Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute.
Lyle Roberts, Winner of the 2011 VSSEC-NASA Australian Space Prize (Photo: VSSEC)
“Winning the VSSEC-NASA Space Prize and the opportunity to attend the NASA Space Academy at Ames is an incredible honour. This is one of those career defining moments that aspiring engineers dream of. My mind is still blowing itself apart; I think it will take a while for reality to sink in. My deepest gratitude goes to VSSEC and the other sponsors for providing me with (and supporting me through) this once in a lifetime opportunity.” said Lyle. The Engineering category of the prize is supported by the Engineers Australia National Committee for Space Engineering.
“The Engineers Australia’s National Committee for Space Engineering is pleased to note that this year’s winner of the EA Undergraduate Prize for Space Engineering, Lyle Roberts, has also been awarded the VSSEC-NASA Australian Space Prize. Congratulations Lyle, your excellent thesis made you a truly worthy winner. The committee is a strong supporter of this competition and would like to thank VSSEC and NASA for making the opportunity, to attend a 10 week NASA Academy program, available to Australian University undergraduates. We are confident that opportunities like this will inspire more young people to pursue a career in engineering and science.” (Mirek Vesely, Chair: National Committee for Space Engineering)
Australia presented NASA with five very strong candidates; selected from a national undergraduate thesis competition. Lyle’s project, High-Speed Digitally Enhanced Heterodyne Interferometry, presented a technique for increasing sensitivity and reducing the risk of critical mission failure of the proposed NASA GRACE ‘follow-on’ mission scheduled for launch in 2015. Other potential applications of this technique include high-sensitivity fibre-optic sensing, which is a rapidly expanding industry within Australia and around the world, and attracting significant interest from NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the European Space Agency (ESA).
When he returns to Australia Lyle will work with the Victorian Space Science Education Centre to share his NASA experience with secondary students and teachers to inspire Australia’s future scientists and engineers.
(SpaceBoomerang Note: This article has been re-produced from the VSSEC Media Release)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)