Minister Carr Meets NASA Administrator Bolden

In an event that has received surprisingly little coverage in the main stream press, Australian Space Minister Senator Carr met with NASA Administrator Bolden on the 28th June 2011.

In the media release which you can take a look at here, it highlights that they discussed:

"Australia's national space policy development, the Australian Space Research Program and NASA's involvement, future NASA missions and potential future Australian-United States collaboration."

  It goes on to say:

"The Australian Government is keen to encourage further opportunities for international collaboration with NASA and the United States regarding civil space science activities. Australia has significant niche capabilities to contribute in the international arena," Senator Carr said. 

Administrator Bolden and Senator Carr also discussed NASA's interest in future space science collaborations, including in the area of Earth observation."

This leaves me with a lot more questions than answers. What sort of collaborations are they discussing? Will this be part of the upcoming National Space Policy? If there wasn't some sort of opportunity on the horizon, what else would they be discussing?

I'm truly reading between the lines here, but would it be possible that they were discussing a potential Australian involvement on a NASA Earth Observation program?

Let me know if anyone has any ideas on this one. I am guessing we'll be hearing more on this front.

Australian Space Research Program Analysis

With Round 4 of the Australian Space Research Program announced, I thought I would take a look at the global picture of what the four rounds and $40 Million of Government funding looks like.

For a start, in total, there were 14 ASRP grants awarded across the four selection rounds. Of these, there were 4 grants awarded under Stream A (Education) and 10 awarded under Stream B (Space Science and Innovation).

Looking at the funding total, excluding GST, I add up a total of $40,322,000 funding awarded (very slightly above the $40 Million allocated). Of that total, $3,071,158 went to the 4 Stream A Grants, and $37,250,842 went to the 10 Stream B Grants as below.

That also means that the average award for Stream A grants was $767,790, whereas the average award for Stream B grants was a much higher $3,725,084.

Taking a look at which states did well out of the ASRP, ACT and SA did the best with 4 grants allocated, with NSW on 3, Victoria on 2, and Queensland on 1 (taking into account only the lead recipient) as below.

 

There were a total of 61 different organisations who are part of ASRP Grant Consortiums, with the most involved organisations being the Australian National University who is involved in 6 different ASRP grants, followed by the University of NSW with 5. DSTO and EOS Space Systems are involved in 3 each, and Curtin University of Technology, the Bureau of Meteorology, University of South Australia, CSIRO and Vipac Engineers and Scientists involved in 2 grants each.

19 International organisations are involved in the ASRP grants, demonstrating that the ASRP is highly successful in developing international cooperation and links. The USA led the way with involvement in 4 programs, with France coming in second with involvement in 3 programs. 

So what can we learn from all of this? Well, firstly, the ASRP grant money was clearly spread across a large range of organisations in Australia, and has enabled strong international links with many of the worlds leading Space nations.

In looking at the states and international involvement, we may also start to see some interesting things for the future of Space in Australia. Clearly, the Space Industry is focussed primarily around 4 states - ACT, SA, NSW and Victoria. This would not come as a surprise to many. We can also see that internationally, Australia is forming links primarily with the USA and Europe. These are also the most likely international partners for future space cooperation.

In my view, the ASRP has already been a great success, and forms an interesting model for continued space activities in Australia. Whilst a fully sector proposed model is unlikely to form the basis for an Australian national Space Policy, propositions from Industry and Academia should continue to be part of that future. I'm sure the lessons from the success of the ASRP are being fully taken into account by the Space Policy Unit, and I look forward to the national Space Policy release shortly.

Australian Space Research Program Round 4 Winners Announced

The Australian Space Research Program round 4 winners have been announced on the 17th of June 2010 by the Minister for Space Kim Carr. Round 4 sees 3 different grants awarded, totalling $6.1 Million in funding. The announcement can be found here.

The first project entitled  "A Comprehensive Tertiary Education Program in Satellite Systems Engineering" sees the University of NSW team up with Thales Alenia Space France, Optus and the French Institut Superieur de l’Aeronautique et de l’Espace.

Their project was awarded $675,173 as part of Stream A of the ASRP, and  includes the following description:


The project will develop and deliver a comprehensive, sustainable tertiary education program in satellite systems engineering comprising a two-year master’s qualification. The project is led by the University of New South Wales in collaboration with a world class consortium which includes Australia’s only satellite owner and operator, Optus, the multinational Thales Group, and France’s Institut Superieur de l’Aeronautique et de l’Espace.
The developed program will be optimised for Australia’s strategic and commercial interests and deliver a ‘systems-wide’ understanding of satellite systems and their applications, from the space segment, to the ground operations, and the end users. International and local industry internships and student exchanges will be incorporated into the program to enhance the skills of graduates.

The second project entitled  " The Australian Plasma Thruster Project" sees ANU, teaming up the University of Surrey (UK), Astrium France, and local company Vipac. This project capitalises on the significant existing capability within the Plasma Research Laboratory at ANU.

Their project was awarded  $3,117,172 as part of Stream B of the ASRP, and  includes the following description:


The Australian Plasma Thruster project will aim to develop a spaceflight ready Australian  plasma thruster design based on the helicon double layer technology invented and developed  at the Australian National University.  If successful it will find a market in satellite propulsion systems, including for station-keeping, end-of-life satellite insertion into graveyard orbit, and ultimately for deep space missions.  

The project will also develop and build a large Space Simulation Facility (S2F) at the ANU’s  Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre at Mt Stromlo in the ACT.  The S2F will incorporate a thermal/vacuum test capability that will allow the final stage of development  and testing of the plasma thruster technology.  The facility will also be available for use by other Australian researchers and industry for testing purposes.

The third project entitled  " Greenhouse Gas Monitor" once again sees Vipac (who have done very well in Round 4), teaming up the University of Wollongong, Rosebank Engineering, ANU, the University of Melbourne and the Bureau of Meteorology. Could this be the start of the capability Australia needs to develop instruments and be part of a future international Remote Sensing or Meteorology program? I hope so!

Their project was awarded $2,346,928 as part of Stream B of the ASRP, and includes the following description:

The Greenhouse Gas Monitor project will develop an innovative sensor to measure greenhouse gases nationally and globally.  The project will tie the measurements to observations by satellites in order to provide global coverage.  Additionally it will develop modelling and analysis tools to interpret the data, thereby advancing scientific understanding of the carbon cycle and providing policy relevant information of sources and sinks of greenhouse gases.  

The improved information on the distribution of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere resulting from the project will mean better monitoring and management of the roles of agriculture, forestation and deforestation as CO2 sources and sinks, more reliable weather forecasts and more sensitive detection of climate change.  The project will also increase Australian capability in the design, build and test of advanced remote sensing instruments.   

"Space science is no longer about a race to the moon. Rather, it has the power and potential to help us address major issues that affect our quality of life like health care, food production and climate change," Senator Carr said at the announcement.

"Australia's space and engineering research is among the best in the world - Excellence in Research for Australia showed 85 per cent or more of the units assessed in the space sciences and related areas of engineering are world standard or above - and our space-related industries are growing."

Another great step forward for Australian space in my view - this time, with some interest coming out of the two main European Prime contractors in Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, as well as some funding going towards space hardware and components that could end up being part of an international program or global supply chain.

Well done to all who are winners this round, and commiserations to all of those who have been trying hard for the last 4 rounds to get involved. It is also worth congratulating the Space Policy Unit in Canberra who have been working hard to keep making the ASRP such a success.

It is with some hesitation that we see the round 4 announcement, as it is currently the last round of the ASRP funding, with no future funding or replacement program yet announced. Hopefully the upcoming National Space Policy will include a future for the ASRP, or something similar, to build upon the great gains already made by the ASRP.

Australia’s Space Needs: Meteorology Data and Weather Forecast

To kick off my series of Blog posts on Australia’s Space Needs, I have chosen to write a little about Australia’s Metorology Data and Weather Forecasting Space Needs.

Cyclone Yasi bears down on Australia 

(Image Credit: Australian Bureau of Meteorology) 

It seems like such an obvious application where Australia relies an incredible amount on near real-time data from Space, however my guess is that most of us really don’t know what we use, where we get it from, or just how important it is.

Well, Australia, through the wonderful folks at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology uses a whole suite of different space derived data, from an equally impressive set of satellites.

I couldn’t really go past this wonderful summary table from the BoM’s website that can be found here to illustrate my point.

  

Product Name & Product Description	Data Source
Sea Surface Temperatures (SST)	NOAA: AVHRR Channels 3,4,5
Normalised Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI)	NOAA: AVHRR Channels 1, 2
Global Solar Radiation	GMS (up to 21/5/03), GOES-9 (from May 03 to July 05), MTSAT-1R (from August 05)
TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS)	NOAA: TIROS Information Processor TIP
Atmospheric Motion Vectors (AMV)	GMS (up to 21/5/03) GOES-9 (from May 03 to July 05), MTSAT-1R (from August 05)
Volcanic Ash	GMS(up to 21/5/03), GOES-9 (from May 03 to July 05), MTSAT-1R (from August 05) or NOAA
Antarctic Sea Ice	NOAA: AVHRR
Visible Imagery	GMS-1 to GMS-5, GOES-9, MTSAT-1R, NOAA 5 to NOAA-17
Infrared Imagery	GMS-1 to GMS-5, GOES-9, MTSAT-1R, NOAA 5 to NOAA-17
Infrared Coloured Imagery	GOES-9, MTSAT-1R
Colour Enhanced Satellite Imagery	GOES-9, MTSAT-1R
Special Colour Images for Publications	GMS-5 (up to 21/05/03), NOAA, GOES-9 (from 22/5/03 to July 2005), MTSAT-1R from August 2005

The Bureau of Meteorology then goes on to use this data in an almost endless number of applications that we all rely on each day to get on with life, including (but not limited to):

·         Land Temperature

·         Sea Temperature

·         Wind Measurement and Forecast

·         Sea Ice Measurement

·         Solar Radiation

·         Ozone Monitoring

·         Precipitation Measurement

·         Soil Moisture

·         Severe Weather tracking and forecast

·         Vegetation Monitoring

·         Bushfire Prediction

·         Volcanic Ash Monitoring

·         Flood Monitoring and Prediction

·         Overall Climate Monitoring and Climate Change

That’s a long list of applications, and many that Australia relies on day in, day out, expecting the BoM to be keeping its eye on things and providing the general public with the necessary information.

Looking a little further into the sources of the data, you can see the following satellites from the above table:

·         NOAA Satellites (NOAA-5 through to NOAA-17) (USA)

·         GOES-9 (USA)

·         MTSAT-1R (Japan)

·         FY-C2 (China)

·         Previous GMS Satellites (GMS-1 to GMS-5) (Japan)

And oddly enough, despite the long list of applications, and the impressive line up of satellites, Australia has never (please correct me if I’m wrong), contributed a single dollar to any meteorology satellite! We are heavily indebted to the United States of America, Japan and China amongst others, to keep the steady stream of data coming our way.

I can’t suggest that meteorology data from Space is everything we need for weather forecasting – it is one component of many that makes our meteorology and weather forecasting possible.  But just how important is it in the scheme of things?

In the ongoing debates in the United States about the funding for future NOAA polar satellites, they did a comparison of weather forecasting with and without Satellite data, for the weather event known in the US as “Snowmaggedon” in early 2010. (You can see the presentation in Powerpoint here.

The results of this showed that without the satellite data, the forecast would have been wrong by 50%! That’s a fair problem during a serious event like “Snowmaggedon”. It went on to highlight the impacts of this reduced forecast including:

Future errors of this scale could result in flood forecast error providing less time for population to react and increasing risk to life and property (hours vs days)

Aircraft and airline passengers would have been stranded, ground commerce would have been halted with no mitigation plans, population would have been unprepared for paralyzing snow-depth

So we can see that Satellite derived Meterology Data is an absolute critical component in forecasting, and one that served us well for the recent weather related disasters that Australia has gone through – including the Queensland floods, Cyclone Yasi and the Victorian Bushfires.

So tomorrow, when you see that weather forecast on television, read it in the paper, or hear about an impending natural disaster, give a thought to how important Space-based meteorology is to Australia, and how without it, Australia would be far worse off.  

Australia's Space Needs Blog Series

I have decided to write a series of Blog posts about Australia's Space needs. I'm not really talking about Launch Sites or Human Space Flight (although it would be great to have both!), rather I am interested in looking at things we currently use day to day to keep life in Australia running. The kind of thing that everyone should know about in Australia, but probably doesn't. The kind of things that it would be hard NOT to justify using space for.

A few that spring to mind immediately:

• Meteorology
• High Speed Communications to Remote Locations 
• Resource Mapping and Discovery 
• Border Monitoring 
• Bushfire Location and Mapping 
• Defence Intelligence 
• Position Navigation and Timing 
• Television Broadcasting

I'd love to hear your ideas on what I should write about, so email me on spaceboomerang@gmail.com with your thoughts or comment below.

Is an NBNCo Satellite announcement just around the corner??

According to the NBNCo Business Plan from December 2010, NBNCo will place an order for its two Ka-band satellites by the end of June.

It is understood that Submissions were received from the Satellite manufactures some months ago, and offer evaluation has been underway for a while, which has included further consultation back to manufacturers.

SpaceBoomerang understands that Space Systems/Loral from the US, as well as Astrium and Thales Alenia Space from Europe have bid for the NBNCo competition, with other offers possible.

If NBNCo goes ahead with the Ka-band purchase, it will be the largest satellite contract awarded in Australia for a number of years.

ASKAP antennas named by local Aboriginal community

 (Photo Credit: Ant Schinckel, CSIRO)

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder telescope has had its first six antennas named by the local Wajarri Aboriginals. The chosen names for the first six ASKAP antennas include: Bilyarli (galah); Bundarra (stars); Wilara (the Moon); Jirdilungu (the Milky Way); Balayi (a lookout, as this antenna looks down westward to others); and Diggidumble (a nearby table-top hill).

The names were bestowed by representatives of seven Aboriginal families at a ceremony at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO), during which name plaques were fixed to each antenna.

The remainder of the 36 antennas along with local roads and other structures will also eventually receive local Wajarri names once they are constructed.

CSIRO's ASKAP Director, Antony ("Ant") Schinckel has also been given a Wajarri name -"Minga", which means "ant".