Ian Mannix
Cosmos newsroom
A leading Australian commentator says Australia should build on its space industry capabilities in areas where it excels on the global stage – ground and data space infrastructure.
Over the past few years there has been uncertainty about the direction of the Australian space industry.
Cassandra Steer, the Chair and Founder of the Australian Centre for Space Governance and Deputy Director (Mission Specialists) at the Australian National University Institute for Space, writing in a “roundtable” for a think tank journal, says Australia lacks a “clear national policy as to the importance of space capabilities to its larger interests, unlike other space middle powers such as Canada, Japan, South Korea, or the United Kingdom.”
But Steer, writing in Asia Review, also says: “If we consider space systems to be made up not only of assets in space (the space segment) but also of the ground segment (such as satellite dishes and space situational awareness), the data segment (the link between satellites and the ground, as well as management of data integrity), and the human segment (operators, users, and ordinary citizens), it is in these three support segments that Australia excels,” she says.
“Satellite dishes and data processing are not as exciting as rockets and astronauts, and so there is far less public awareness of these activities. However, there is a quiet sense of contributing in critical yet often unseen ways, which is arguably at the core of Australia’s identity as a space nation.”
The “round table” was in Asia Policy published by the National Bureau of Asian Research, a think tank based in Seattle, Washington, in the US. The report was titled: “Asia’s Space Ambitions.” The entire report is available free online for a short while.
“As Australian space historian Tristan Moss makes clear,” Steer wrote, “Australian leaders have made policy decisions over the decades that have been deliberately limited, pragmatic, and based heavily on defense or strategic alliance interests.
“They have consistently decided not to invest in a large national space program but to continue to lean on Australia’s international partnerships for the nation’s space service needs, such as earth-observation (EO) data, satellite communications, and position, navigation, and timing (PNT).
“There is still a great deal of debate across the industry and research sectors as to what the country’s priorities should be and whether it has done enough to invest public money into space technologies.
“Australia still lacks a strong, coordinated national approach, and its emerging identity as a space nation is nascent.
“In both respects, Australia would benefit from an explicit national policy statement regarding the investments it has made into the ground and data segments over the decades.
“The medium and long term future holds enormous potential for Australia as a space middle power, particularly in terms of what it can contribute to the Indo-Pacific’s needs.
“Successive governments have … determined that rather than build sovereign space missions, Australia can continue to benefit from space services provided by others and instead invest in ground and data segments.
“Indeed, the only explicit national space policy that Australia has adopted, the 2013 Satellite Utilisation Policy, highlights that the country cannot continue to rely on others without contributing to global infrastructure, and that the most effective contributions Australia can make are nationally coordinated offers in areas of niche Australian strength, particularly in ground infrastructure and in the application of space information to achieve cost effective outcomes.”
Geoscience Australia and CSIRO manage large satellite dishes for the downlink of EO data from U.S., European, and Japanese programs.
“As a result, Australia has established itself as the world’s leading custodian of EO data—from processing and managing different sources and forms of this data, to quality control through calibration and validation, to redistributing EO data globally to others.”
Steer is critical of the budget allocations to the Australian Space Agency.
“Perhaps the biggest challenge was—and remains—that the Space Agency is not a statutory body. Instead, it is a small subagency under the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, allowing the head of the Space Agency limited autonomy.
“It is also severely under-resourced, with a founding budget in 2018 of only A$26 million over four years, which is one-eighth the size of what many had argued was necessary. Moreover, its budget was significantly cut in 2023 as part of federal budget reductions.”
The ASA was tasked in 2018 with creating 20,000 jobs within a decade.
Space industry 4.0
Writing the introduction to the roundtable, Canada’s Vina Nadjibulla and Charles Labrecque, say the space industry is in a new phase: “This new era, often called “Space 4.0,” is defined by dynamic partnerships between governments, the private sector, and society,” they write.
“According to a 2024 report the space economy, valued at $630 billion, is projected to triple and reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, creating even more opportunities for private actors in the coming years.”
“Today, nearly 80 countries have space programs, compared with 40 in 2000. Asia…boasts the “world’s greatest concentration of countries with independent space capabilities,” which positions the region at the forefront of a modern space race.”
Steer explored the history of Australia’s space industry and concluded: “A unique, national narrative may well be emerging in Australia, therefore, as a middle player highly committed to impacting space security and space sustainability efforts in partnership with other middle powers and smaller nations.
“Given Australia’s commitments to stability in the Indo-Pacific and advancement of neighbouring countries, key government departments are beginning to advocate for space technology cooperation in the region as a policy lever for shared interests. This aligns with historical federal government approaches to utilize space investment as a means to broader political ends and benefits.”
