Page 4 - Australian Defence Magazine - July 2018

Space: realistic expectations
KATHERINE ZIESING | CANBERRA
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NEWS in the Budget this year that Australia is finally funding a space agency was warmly wel- comed by not just those in the small but grow- ing space community, but also by the wider public. It seems the lure of the stars is in full force, with renewed enthusiasm all round.
By the time this edition of ADM lands on your desk the new agency, headed by Dr Me- gan Clark, will be up on running, having com- menced on July 1; a start up of a different na- ture. Dr Clark headed the government’s expert review into the Australian space industry last year and the series of recommendations from that report are being followed up on. Speakers at ASPI’s Space Conference last month were clear on their expectations of this new agency in that they are not expecting a NASA-organisation, because the dollars are simply not available.
According to a Space Foundation report released last year, the global space industry was worth US$329 billion (AU$414 billion) in 2016, with increases from 2015 credited to growth in the commercial sector. Another re- port released by global firm Euroconsult stated that worldwide annual government spending on space programs was just over US$62 billion (AU$78 billion) in 2016, but predicted it would increase to US$79 billion (almost AU$100 bil- lion) in the lead up to 2026.
Figures cited at the ASPI conference put Australia’s space contributions at about $3 bil- lion annually, in that we create about $3 billion worth of space related services and we also use another $3 billion in space related ‘stuff’. From earth observation for civil industries such as mining and agriculture through to defence and military applications, space services are deliv- ered from a range of satellite constellations and they are behind many of the services that we take for granted.
The new space agency has some high hopes mixed with some cynicism behind it. On one hand, there is a clear appetite for parts of the space market in Australia in the form of cube- sats/nanosats design and high technology man- ufacturing, as costs have dropped significantly. The concept of Space 2.0 (in a nutshell; small, cheap and cheerful vs large, expensive and ex- quisite) has been warmly welcomed by a grow-
ing start up culture. Australia has been dabbling in the space domain for decades in various forms on the commercial front. Defence has used space as a service with forays into ownership/ lease models under the old model, but are yet to explore the benefits of Space 2.0.
The space agency aims to be the front door to all things space in Australia. This will en- able Australian space industries to benefit from agency-to-agency agreements and collabora- tions, and facilitate our participation in the growing global space market. The most common feedback from many Australian space start-ups is not that they lack the dollars but credibility, both locally and internationally, a commodity that cannot be bought.
Really exciting things are happening in space all over Australia, according to Andrew Demp- ster, director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER). Australia’s launch company Gilmour Space Technologies operates out of Queensland and has more tests of its innovative propulsion system scheduled for this year. Moonshot X in Victoria is nurtur- ing a lot of space start-ups. Western Australia boasts the Desert Fireball Network and the only Australian picosat (small satellite) developer, Picosat Systems. The ACT hosts the large test- ing facility, the Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre.
Having a nationally recognised government body behind these smaller companies when they reach out to the international space com- munity can only be a good thing.
One of the most striking insights from the ASPI space conference in my view was high- lighted by Dr Jason Held of Saber Astronautics: “Australia has historically made a lot of tactical decisions about how and where we buy space services, mainly at the company level. The in- dustry as a whole lacks a strategic direction that would support an indigenous capability. We’re at a point where we can change that.”
These points of change are typically only visible in hindsight. I’d like to be able to look back and say 2018 was the year when Austra- lian realistic space expectations were set, that put us on a path towards something bigger than ourselves.
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All material appearing in ADM is copyright. Reproduction in whole or in part is not permitted without permission in writing from the publisher. The publishers accept sole responsibility for the contents of this publication, which may in no way be taken to represent the views of the Department of Defence, the Australian Defence Force or any other agency of the Commonwealth of Australia.
4 | July 2018 | www.australiandefence.com.au
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