Page 50 - Australian Defence Magazine Nov 2020

50 SPACE SA SPONSORED CONTENT
NOVEMBER 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
SOUTH AUSTRALIA
THE BEST
PLACE FOR SPACE
IN AUSTRALIA
South Australia is at the heart of Australia’s return to space and has been a leader since launching Australia first space strategy in 2016 with an industry focus.
SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT | ADELAIDE
SA’S involvement with space dates back to 1947 when the Woomera Rocket Range was established on the Arcoona plateau as part of an agreement between the British and Australian Governments to develop long-range missiles during WWII. Nowadays, SA is home to a booming space industry, with over 80 space-related organisations and edu- cational institutions operating within the state.
The SA Space Sector Strategy aims to build on our proud history of space activity, highlighting space as one of the nine growth sectors identified for the state and commits to grow- ing a thriving and enduring local space sector. The initiatives build on the foundations of the last five years, implemented by the SA Space Industry Centre (SASIC), which successful- ly won Adelaide the Australian Space Agency and SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) headquarters.
The state is aligned with the national strategy developed by the Australian Space Agency and envisions a future in which SA will be designing, manufacturing, launching and operating smartsat services for sovereign missions. It focusses heavily on building the Lot Fourteen Innovation Precinct as a centre for space-related activity in SA by co- locating researchers and industry.
In 2021, we will see the Mission Control Centre start to take shape as a fully operational facility for organisations and researchers to control and monitor satellite and space mis- sions. Visitors to the centre will be able to watch astronauts on-board thanks to a live link to the International Space Sta- tion. Construction will also be well under way on the Austra- lian Space Discovery Centre, inspiring the next generation of the space workforce through stories of opportunity, curiosity and technology in what will be the first Questacon discovery centre outside of Canberra.
The development of satellites and payloads is now sup- ported by operational launch facilities, with Southern Launch and DEWC Systems successfully facilitating Australia’s first commercial rocket launch from Koonibba Test Range in September. The rockets, developed in col- laboration with T-Minus Engineering in the Netherlands, were launched to the edge of space before releasing the
DEWC-SP1 payloads. It also paves the way for SA’s future as the home of private rocket launches as the reliance on satellite and space technology increases.
DEWC Systems has also received Federal government funding to develop the nations first owned and operated space based Electronic Warfare capability through its Minia- turised Orbital Electronic Warfare Sensor System (MOESS) project. MOESS involves a constellation of CubeSats fitted with a range of sensors and monitoring equipment that de- tect ship and aircraft movements from above. The project is just one example of how South Australia’s defence and space industries are working in collaborations with researchers to increase Australia’s sovereign capability.
At the same time that space is becoming more accessible through small satellites, South Australian’s are also working on the human elements of space travel. With NASA’s Artemis program promising future human space travel, there is a fresh focus on the human elements of space technology such as hu- man machine interfaces, space biosystems and space medicine.
The Australian Space Agency’s partnership with NASA for the Moon to Mars project encourages Australian businesses and researchers to focus on technologies that will support crewed missions to the Moon, and ultimately Mars. In addi- tion to the development of new technologies, this provides an area for application of human factors research and develop- ment, which is ongoing in the defence sector between SA’s leading universities and industry partners such as Acacia Systems and Naval Group Pacific. It also leverages the states existing strengths in areas such as resource constrained food production and health and medical science with cutting-edge applications in human space travel.
Both Defence SA and SASIC continue to work closely with Defence Science and Technology and the Wide Area and Space Surveillance Systems Program Office (WASSPO) on jobs creation, pioneering research targets and finding practi- cal applications for space technologies. ■
ABOVE: SA is the natural home of Australian space efforts.
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