NSSN sponsored the Making Space for Australia forum

The NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN) sponsored the Royal Society of NSW’s annual Forum held at Government House on 7 November 2019. The event opened by the Governor of NSW, Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AO QC focused on challenges faced by Australia in the study, exploration, and custodianship of space.

The Governor’s speech was followed by a keynote presentation on Australia’s strengths in space science by Professor Lisa Kewley FAA from the Australian National University (ANU).

The forum continued with four sessions: 1) Australia in the space age; 2) space law, security and ethics; 3) space and people; and 4) Australia’s space economy: prospects for the future.

Dr Susan Pond AM, FTSE FRSN, NSSN Chair, was a moderator at the forum for the session on Australia’s Space Economy: Prospects for the Future. The topics discussed at this session included: the role of NSW in Australia’s space industry, space 2.0: small smart satellites, and opportunities for the Australian industry in Defence Space Situational Awareness. Dr Paul Scully-Power AM, NSSN Board Member, discussed the future impacts that small smart satellites in low earth orbit will have on industries such as agriculture and mining.

In 2018 the Australian Government launched the Australian Space Agency to grow the national space economy from $4 billion to $12 billion in 2030. According to a report by the NSW Government, NSW is the leading state in Australia for space capabilities. NSW organisations generate more than 70% of all space-related revenue in Australia. NSW is the leader in space research, education and training, as 31% of Australian university departments active in space are based in this state. The NSSN simplifies the process of engaging with universities by creating a single point-of-contact for the leading research-intensive universities in NSW & ACT.

The NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN) member universities are at the forefront of smart sensing research, exploring new frontiers in remote sensing including Space Situational Awareness (SSA), robotics, autonomous systems, and Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT).

NSSN member university ANU hosts the Advanced Instrumental Technology Centre (AITC) and the CRC for Space Environment Management. These centres work with industry to develop advanced space capabilities from tracking space junk threats to developing high-performance instrumentation for astronomy and space science.

The Centre for Artificial Intelligence at the University of Technology Sydney is a world-leading research centre with a vision to develop theoretical foundations and advanced algorithms for artificial intelligence and to drive significant progress in related areas such as computational intelligence, business intelligence, computer vision, data science, machine learning, brain-computer interface, social robotics and information systems. 

Researchers at Western Sydney University have developed the ‘AstrositeTM’, a space camera that can sense and track objects in space in real-time and may help to avoid satellite collisions, allow daytime imaging of objects in low earth orbit and low-visibility environments and, monitor space debris. The AstrositeTM is modelled off the human eye and brain and was designed and developed with the RAAF as part of Plan Jericho for potential defence applications.

The Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research (ACSER) based at UNSW have research strengths in Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receiver design, Earth observation satellite systems, CubeSat development in radiation-tolerant FPGA’s, novel satellite structures utilising rapid manufacture and GNSS remote observation. Researchers from ACSER and UNSW are currently using remote sensing technology to explore the commercial viability of mining water on the moon.

Access to cutting edge research equipment can be difficult to arrange without university partners. With over 50 centres of excellence, collaborative research centres and industrial training centres spread across the NSSN, access to cutting edge equipment is readily available.

To find out how the NSSN can help solve your challenges, please contact Amanda Hayes at (02) 9385 5451 or at amanda.hayes@nssn.org.au .

Media: Shahrzad Abbasi —  0466548145