Page 22 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec21-Jan22

22
DEFENCE BUSINESS SOUTHERN GUARDIAN
DECEMBER 2021-JANUARY 2022 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
TASMANIA LOOKS TO SPACE
Front and centre to Australia’s journey towards becoming a significant player in the global space sector is its growing focus on Space Domain Awareness (SDA),
in which Tasmania is playing a leading role.
ROYA GHODSI | SYDNEY
THE detection and tracking of vast numbers of orbiting ob- jects and their relativity to space assets like satellites, space stations and active space missions is crucial to minimising risks of collision as space becomes an increasingly congest- ed environment.
The destructive test of a Russian anti-satellite weapon in November 2021 was a recent reminder of the increasingly vital role of space surveillance for safe operations in space. The test, which saw a missile destroy Cosmos 1408, a de- funct Soviet satellite located in the middle of the high traf- fic zone of low-Earth orbit (LEO), created over 1500 pieces of long-lived debris which now threaten numerous satellites and the International Space Station.
TASMANIA’S ROLE
A lot of satellites, especially satellites in LEO, are in polar orbits (generally used for Earth-observation systems), dis- tinct from equatorial orbits (used for geostationary applica-
SDA capability through the Southern Guardian Space Do- main Awareness System (Southern Guardian) project.
Through the collaboration, HENSOLDT Australia – the local subsidiary of its German multinational parent – will bring its skills in space radar technology and systems de- velopment, UTas its expertise and infrastructure in space observation and tracking, and together backed by support and funding from the Tasmanian Government.
The Tasmanian Government has been proactive in its support towards growing Tasmania as a leader in space. In September 2019, the Tasmanian Government signed an MoU with the Australian Space Agency to strengthen Tas- mania’s capabilities in space medicine, ground stations and tracking facilities.
“We, as a government, recognised back then that there was a really unique part to play in Australia’s space ambi- tions and so committed to that early,” Tasmanian Defence Advocate, retired Rear Admiral Steve Gilmore, told ADM. “There’s been a greater collaboration across Australia, I be- lieve, in realising the challenge that we have as a nation in providing for Defence, and broader, space endeavours. There’s a real willingness by the Tasmanian government to play its part.”
EXPERTISE AND INFRASTRUCTURE
UTas possesses an array of existing radio astronomy assets across Australia which are being leveraged for SDA pur- poses under the Southern Guardian project.
“We have couple of large antennas in Tasmania which have traditionally mainly been used for astronomy and for a bit of space craft tracking,” UTas’ Professor of Physics and Dean of School for the School of Natural Sciences, Professor Simon Ellingsen explained to ADM. “But essen- tially over the last 12 – 18 months we’ve been working with HENSOLDT towards developing space domain awareness capability with those assets.”
These antennae are a 26-metre ex-NASA antenna at the Mt Pleasant observatory near Hobart, which can detect ob- jects all the way out to Mars and beyond, and a 12-metre an- tenna (also at Mt Pleasant) which has been used to support a range of space missions in the past, as well as space situ-
“WHILE ALL STATES AND TERRITORIES HAVE AMBITIONS TO EXPAND THEIR SPACE CAPABILITIES, DUE TO
ITS SOUTHERN LOCATION TASMANIA IS BETTER POSITIONED THAN ANY OTHER TO OBSERVE OBJECTS IN POLAR ORBITS”
tions such as telecommunications and weather monitoring). While all states and territories have ambitions to expand their space capabilities, due to its southern location Tas- mania is better positioned than any other to observe objects in polar or- bits: the state is able to view objects sooner than anywhere else, before their angular dispersion spreads them across the sky. It is also able to detect and track objects over a great- er number of orbit tracks in all the key space operating bands including LEO, MEO (medium-Earth orbit),
GEO (geostationary orbit) and beyond.
Given this unique geographical advantage, it is no sur-
prise that Tasmania is aspiring to establish itself as the na- tional centre for SDA. In July 2021, technology solutions company HENSOLDT Australia, the University of Tasma- nia (UTas) and the Tasmanian Government – jointly named TEAM Tasmania – announced a memorandum of under- standing (MoU) to support the development of a sovereign