Sunday, February 20, 2011

A pick-up in Australian Space Jobs?

Over the past few weeks, it seems that there has been a pick-up in Space related jobs in Australia. Now I cannot offer definitive proof of this, but just take a look at the list of current jobs below that I could find that are currently being advertised related to Space. It seems to me that the rate of Space jobs being advertised has been picking up over the last few months, and I would guess that it is likely to continue to become stronger over 2011 as Australia plans to release a National Space Policy.

A pickup in the Australian Space jobs sector provides further anecdotal evidence that the Australian Space Sector is currently on the rise, and also that a more friendly attitude to the Space Sector from the Australian government may be paying off economically.

Space Gravity Analyst at ANU
Remote Sensing Officer at Geoscience Australia
Geodetic Scientist at Geoscience Australia
Geospatial Project Manager (AGOS) at Geoscience Australia
Satellite Specialist at the Bureau of Meteorology
Account Executive - High End Satellite Communication at Harris CapRock Communications
Laser Physicist/Engineer at EOS
A Scientist for Remote Sensing from Satellite using Radar (Forests)
Geospatial eXploitation Products (GXP) Defence Support Manager at BAE Systems
A GIS Officer Graduate Position

SIIC to hold Space Sector Stakeholder Forum

 The Australian Space Industry Innovation Council will be holding a Space Sector Stakeholder Forum in Sydney at the End of March - probably the 31st, allowing an opportunity for the public to discuss the Space Industry directly with the Council members.

For those interested in attending, contact space@innovation.gov.au or call +61 2 6276 1166. The venue will be announced shortly, and will likely be posted on Space.gov.au.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Round 4 of the Australian Space Research Program Open

Round 4 of the Australian Space Research Program is now open for applications, closing at 3pm AEST, Thursday 31st March. 

Whilst widely viewed as a highly successful program that has delivered very good value for the small investment made, it may be the last round of the ASRP, dependant on what is announced this year in the upcoming Australian National Space Policy. Hopefully the Space Policy includes at least a program to follow the ASRP, but may build upon the success of the ASRP with a broader Space Research Program, focussing on the key Space priority areas that have been identified.

In the Media Release from the Minister for Space Kim Carr, it also highlights just how successful the ASRP has been so far, particularly through the development of international partnerships:


“Eight of the 11 projects funded so far under the program have international partnerships, including organisations in Germany, Japan Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and France. I hope to see even more collaborations with the next round of funding.”


For Round 4 there will be two applicant information sessions as follows:

  • Sydney - Wednesday 23 February, 10.30 - 11.30am
    Biomed Lecture Theatre E
    Ground Floor, Biological Sciences Building
    University of New South Wales
    Kensington
  • Brisbane - Thursday 24 February, 2.00 - 3.00pm
    Room 50-N201
    Hawken Building (Building 50)
    St Lucia campus
    University of Queensland
Winners for round four are expected to be announced in June 2011.

For further information on Round 4 of the ASRP - head here.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Space in Australia: A mistaken identity?

From what I keep hearing, the most common response by average Australians to “Should Australia invest in Space” is “we can’t afford to send man to the moon! Why don’t we invest the money in hospitals instead?” which tells me two key things about Space in Australia.

Firstly, that Australians are not fully aware of what Space technologies are used for. Despite what Aussies think, Space is not just about sending Man to the Moon. Sure, human space exploration is a highly visible and inspiring part of Space technology, but overall, it’s actually quite a small part of the global space industry – less than 5% of the overall US$260 Billion Space Market in 2010.

What makes up most of the space industry, is technologies that improve the lives of people on earth, every single day, such as telecommunications, navigation and positioning, weather forecasting, television broadcasting, climate monitoring and defence surveillance. It is exactly these technologies that Australia, and Australians use every day, and which underpin several aspects of our modern society. In this respect, the perception of Space for Australians is quite a long way away from the reality.

The second point that the response tells me is that Australians think that Space would be a poor investment for Australia to make, and that there are much higher priorities.

I fully agree with the argument that hospital funding is vital in Australia, and more funding can always help the hospital system, however Space is also a vital part of Australian society, it just receives extremely little funding from Government – in stark contrast to most other developed economies.

When a cyclone or bushfire is bearing down on your house and an Earth Observation satellite gives you enough advanced warning to save lives and minimise economic damage, an Earth Observation Satellite is a good investment. When satellite telecommunications makes up a US$80B industry globally, and “has probably had more effect than any other space technology on the average Australian”, providing telephone, television, radio and internet connectivity to a massive number of Australians, a telecommunications satellite is a good investment. When up to 10% of your economy depends on Precision Navigation, Positioning and Timing, then GPS type systems become a good investment. This is not to say that other government funded areas like hospitals aren’t important, but that investment in Space technology and capabilities are also important.

The Australia space policy that will be released in 2011, is likely not to include Australia sending a man to the moon. What it is likely to focus upon, is exactly those technologies that we use, and are already vital to Australia – Earth Observation, Satellite Communications, and Position, Navigation and Timing. Not only is this approach the right one, but it will help change the perception in Australia that Space is only about “Sending Man to the Moon”, helping sustain support for space funding over the longer term.

As Australian Space professionals, we also have an obligation to help change the debate in Australia from “we can’t afford to send man to the moon” to “why don’t we have satellites to help better forecast our weather, measure climate change, connect our households and protect our shores?” It is not enough for us to expect the public opinion to evolve naturally to understand what we often take for granted.

It’s time we take back Space in Australia for what it really is.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Trans-Tasman Virtual e-Telescope goes live

On the 8th of February, five radio telescopes across Australia and New Zealand were linked up to observe a quasar star - PKS 0208-512.

The virtual telescope project, which is a cooperation between CSIRO, Curtain University, the University of Tasmania and the Auckland University of Technology (AUT), used the electronic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (e-VLBI) technique, the same technique that will be used within the Square Kilometer Array.

The data was received in real time by the five radio telescopes, and transferred across the Australian Academic and Research Network (AARNET) and the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN) to a processing centre in Narrabri, NSW, where the results were put together in real time.

The Trans-Tasman Virtual e-Telescope is another step forward in Australian and New Zealand's bid to host the Square Kilometer Array Facility, by demonstrating the technologies required to support the facility.

ISU Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program Wraps up in Adelaide

Following an intense five weeks of lectures, the ISU Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program has wrapped up in Adelaide. The joint program between the International Space University and the University of South Australia brought together 43 students from 9 countries together, including Australia, Brazil, India, China, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malaysia and Italy.

 The 2010 ISU SH-SSP Graduates (Photo: University of South Australia)

The Program involved lectures from industry leaders from across Australia and the world, including Astronauts Soyeon Yi from Korea and Jean-Jacques Favier from France, and covered all aspects of Space – including engineering, science, medicine, policy and law.

For those who are interested, there are some good photos from the program on their Facebook page here

Their White Paper titled “Paths to Progress – Space and the Southern Hemisphere” which can be found here, examines a range of problems and solutions facing all Southern Hemisphere nations (for the report, this was all countries below the tropic of cancer), and makes for an interesting read. In particular, the report focuses on three main areas:
  1. How Southern Hemisphere countries can improve Space-related capabilities
  2. How Space Based Earth Observation technologies can benefit Southern Hemisphere countries – in particular by reducing the impact of natural disasters (a highly relevant topic as the white paper was written in Jan 2011)
  3. How Space Based Telecommunications can be used to address the UN Millennium Development Goals, with some interesting discussion on tele-medicine.

Overall the report makes a strong case for utilising Space-based capabilities to help solve social and economic problems that all Southern Hemisphere countries face. If you do get a chance to read it, don’t miss appendices 2, 3 and 4, which make for an interesting summary of some of the research that went into the report.

Perhaps one of the most important outcomes of the program for Australia is both the high number of young Space professions that have graduated and will hopefully become part of the Australian Space Industry, as well as the networks that they are now part of across the region – with the Southern Hemisphere Space leaders of tomorrow.

From all reports the Program was a great success – congratulations to all graduates. In fact, Space Boomerang hopes that he might be able to attend the program one day!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Wikileaks identifies secret Australian - US Space Agreement

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Australia and the United States have formed a "partnership to share top-secret intelligence from spy satellites". According to the article, the agreement was signed in February 2008, and has been revealed in secret US embassy cables obtained by Wikileaks.

The article goes on to identify that the agreement was signed by the then defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and was referred to as a "statement of principles on geospatial intelligence co-operation", however it was not identified in the 2008 AUSMIN Communique, with the leaked cable classified secret.

The article goes on to link the agreement to the 2009 Defence White Paper announcement to acquire a Radar based remote sensing satellite, and suggests that Boeing, Raytheon or Lockheed Martin are the most likely contractors to build the satellite, which would be entirely built and launched in the US.

It also suggests that the NRO is working closely with the Australian Satellite project, and that the Australian Satellite would form part a constellation that the NRO operates. The estimated cost of the satellite would be between "$820 million to $1.65 billion".

Whilst the Satellite project is no surprise to me, as it has been flagged in the Public Defence White paper, it certainly demonstrates the increasingly close alliance between Australia and the US in all things related to Defence Space, and seems to take a similar approach to the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) project, where Australia has contributed to the cost of one satellite, whilst gaining access to the entire constellation.

It also demonstrates a more active approach from Australian Defence in becoming a producer within the satellite imagery world, rather than just a user. I do hope that in the realisation of the project there is as much local industry content as possible, to create a legacy within industry for future space capabilities.

(note that this post has adapted information from the SMH article which can be found in full here.)

NewSat inks deal to acquire orbital slots

NewSat has signed a deal with AP Kypros Satellites to rights or options to seven orbital slots for geostationary satellites and related spectrum. The current agreement allows NewSat exclusive use of one orbital slot, 50% use of the frequencies of another two slots, and options for another four orbital slots.

NewSat, which has been working on developing and launching their own telecommunications satellites called "Jabiru", believes that each satellite launched could generate in excess of $100 million of EBITDA per year according to CEO Adrian Ballintine.

Whilst NewSat has not yet signed any deal for satellite construction, the orbital slot agreement certainly is a vital step towards the launch of a future Jabiru satellite.

Financial Terms on the agreement are yet to be released, however it is understood that they will be paid for in five cash instalments with a sixth instalment paid in ordinary shares.

VSSEC-NASA Australian Space Prize 2010 Category Winners Announced

The 2010 VSECC-NASA Australian Space Price Category Prize winners have just been anounced, however we'll have to wait until March to find out the overall Prize winner.

The VSEC-NASA Australian Space prize gives one (very lucky) Australian undergraduate student to spend 10 weeks working along side a NASA scientist or engineer as part of the NASA Academy Program at Ames Research Center, Goddard Flight Center or Marshall Flight Center. The four category winners will now be asked to explain their chosen research topic to NASA, and outline what the chance to attend the NASA academy would mean to them. NASA will then decide the the winner in March of 2011.

The four category winners include:

Category: Space Engineering:
Winner: Joel Cappelli from the University of Sydney
Topic: CliffRider: The Abseiling Face Inspection Robot

Category: Geology and Planetary Geology:
Winner: Emily Bathgate from the University of Technology Sydney
Sub-ice Volcanism on Mars

Category: Space Physics and Astrophysics:
Winner: Kate Snow from the University of Wollongong
Determining the Vertical Profile of Reflectivity for Long-Range Radar Measurements

Category: Data Processing and Electronics
Winner: Matthew Steventon from the University of Adelaide
ASRI Multi-Stage Launch Vehicle: Mechatronics

This follows the successful winner of the 2009 VSSEC-NASA Australian Space Prize: Elizabeth Blaber, from the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales, who investigated the influence of microgravity on human cellular function at NASA. You can find her blog here.

For those who are interested in finding out more about the VSSEC-NASA Australian Space Prize - head here.

Space Boomerang on Echoes of Apollo

Recently I've been in contact with Robert Brand over at Echoes of Apollo, who has decided to start featuring a few of my posts in his Line up - thank you Robert.

For those who are interested in following his regular Space News, as well as his interesting line up of opinion articles, I recommend you head over to the Echoes of Apollo website and have a look.