Defence Business_Issue 41 (Nov 17 – Jan 18)_DTC_Web

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28 SPACE RACE November/December 2017/January 2018 Defence Business Clock Ticking on Local Space 'Race' By Philip Smart November’s South Australian Space Forum included a presentation from International Astronautical Congress (IAC) CEO Brett Biddington who checked off his original list of goals for the recent 2017 congress held in Adelaide and asked the 200-strong crowd to assess whether the event was a “pass or fail”. If audience applause from an assembly of industry participants was the barometer the congress ticked all the boxes. But it was South Australian Space Industry Centre director Nicola Sasanelli who echoed the thoughts of many while thanking Biddington for his summary, which capped off an unprecedented 18 months in Australia’s involvement in space. “You’ve changed the culture in terms of space,” Sasanelli told Biddington. “The outlook on the importance of space in Australia has completely changed.” Few would argue the point. Australian industry has established solid reputations in overseas space programs and products over decades while remaining virtually unknown at home. But the IAC conference and its surrounding publicity have put space firmly on the national radar, particularly with announcement of an Australian National Space Agency on the first day of the event. In the same week as the South Australian Space Forum, Lockheed Martin, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and the Space Industry Association of Australia jointly hosted the Securing Australia’s Space Industry forum in Canberra. The forum “addressed critical questions for the future of Australia’s National Space Agency and, therefore, the wider space industry as a whole,” said Lockheed Martin Australia Chief Executive, Vince Di Pietro. The Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) held its own event the day before South Australia’s with the ACT Government planning a space forum for the following week. And the South Australian event followed release of many of the 160 submissions made to the Commonwealth’s ongoing Review of Australia’s Space Industry Capability, announced in July this year and scheduled to provide an industry strategy to government in March 2018. The review is being led by an Expert Reference Group (ERG), chaired by Dr Megan Clark AC. The review has commissioned three major reports in to the Australian and global space industries, received more than 1200 pages in submissions and consulted more than 400 people, the majority in round-table discussion. It has highlighted the diversity in the structure, focus and budget of international space programs. Of the 50 nations with space budgets, nine of them have annual budgets of more than one billion dollars, with another 20 sporting budgets of more than $100 million. The review will inform Australian space policy and the charter of the newly announced Australian Space Agency. And to no one’s surprise, it has identified an Australian heritage in space and an industry comprising around 400 Australian companies, as Joe Andrews, assistant manager of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science’s Civil Space and Cyber Security Industry Growth Division told the Adelaide audience. “A lot of attention was drawn to our network of ground stations, that Australia is in a prime receiving and communications area of the world and we can extend those services to other countries. It noted our expertise in precision navigation and timing technologies and infrastructure, Andrews said. “Earth observation was seen as a great strength for Australia, probably more on our ability to interpret earth observation data. “And there are some frontier areas where we think we can go: artificial Expedition 39 Launch. Photo Courtesy of NASA.
November/December 2017/January 2018 Defence Business SPACE RACE 29 Biarri-Point is a satellite developed by the United States, which as part of its payload has GPS technology developed by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney in partnership with Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group. intelligence and data analytics, space situational awareness, quantum cyber security, optical communications to increase the speed of communications, propulsion systems, looking more at the sort of small plasma propulsion system and atmospheric physics, so looking in to the space weather applications.” ACT Defence Industry Advocate Kate Lundy is passionate about the review’s ability to present a single unified picture of Australia’s space capability, to prompt the conversations that will instil collaboration across the country across a diverse range of industries and create a truly national policy and approach for the first time. “There would be a conversation about advanced manufacturing and the construction of cube-sats,” she said. “There would be another conversation about the data analytics and the spatial information that flows from earth observation. And there would be a whole industry story about the opportunities that exist in the defence sector as the focus on new platforms develops. “But bringing all of these conversations together in a unifying narrative that gives expression to what Australia is capable of doing in a collective way is part of the challenge.” Joe Andrews said the question he was asked most about Australia’s new space agency was its intended location. Not yet determined, he replied. That will depend on what sort of space agency we choose. “We reviewed a lot of the other OECD nations that have space agencies,” Andrews said. “While you have the NASAs that are out by themselves as a separate entity, predominantly agencies are located within a government department or as a sub agency. It actually is usually an industry department that has the space agency as part of it. “There’s a diverse range of focus in space agencies. Some are purely R&D agencies, others are just focused on the needs of government and defence, whereas some are looking much more at economic focus, on how to develop industry.” But like many, Andrews is embracing the momentum and sense of urgency, now that Australia has committed to writing policy and strategy around what could be a national growth industry. “I often feel like I’m driving a car with people in the back saying ‘are we there yet?’,” he said. “I think it’s a very justifiable question and actually it’s really good to be hearing that enthusiasm.” DELIVERING LAW DIFFERENTLY. We believe understanding Defence takes Defence experience. Level 10, 400 King William Street, Adelaide SA 5000 t. +61 (0) 8 8414 3333 e. info@jht.com.au www.jht.com.au
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Defence Business_Issue 41 (Nov 17 – Jan 18)_DTC_Web

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