Many Australians are unaware of how many satellites Australia owns and operates. There is currently enhanced Government, industry, and University commitment to growing Australia’s satellite capability. This is to diminish the reliance on other countries’ satellite fleets and promote the growth of Australia’s sovereign satellite capability through monetary investments and establishment of a national space mission.

Through transmitting signals to and from Earth, satellites play a pivotal part in daily life by enabling crucial services. The importance of these services includes providing navigation services, and weather forecasting. More notably, satellites enable communication through relaying broadcasting, television, and radio signals via communications links. For Australians, this means that people in rural areas such as farmer and miners can receive these systems in remote areas. Satellites also provide national security support through surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities for Australia’s defence and national security agencies. The rapid pledge to grow Australia’s space capability can be seen through the establishment of Australia’s Space Agency in mid-2018 and the 2022-2023 Australian Federal budget’s establishment of Australia’s first-ever national space mission. The Morrison Government pledged $1.6 billion until 2038-2039 for a National Space Mission for Earth Observation (EO) (Price, 2022). The budget placed an onus on Australia to launch its own EO satellites to limit reliance on other Nation’s satellite services. The 2022-2023 budget comes after the Australian Civil Space Strategy (2019-2028), which encompassed the plan of the coalition Government’s investment in establishing the Australian Space Agency. The strategy includes several goals and objectives to drive growth in the industry, including supporting research and development, improving regulation, and developing a skilled workforce for the local space industry. The common theme between the budget and the Australian Civil Space strategy is the emphasis on developing sovereign Australian space capability. Australia has no EO satellites of its own, relying on other countries’ services, meaning Australia cannot monitor extreme weather events except through agencies in other countries (Evans, 2022). This is a critical service as Australia is frequently subject to bushfires and flooding. The Minister for Science and Technology, Melissa Price, stated that the first phase for the mission of EO, as outlined in the 2022-2023 budget, will see Australia design, build, and operate four new satellites, to create foundation of industry know-how for more complex space mission next decade. Government recognition of this has accentuated the need for Australia to develop its sovereign satellite capability and grow a highly skilled workforce in this area to attract investment and industry talent to Australia’s space industry. Furthermore, in alignment with Australia’s National Space Mission for EO, a manufacturing hub will be established dedicated to EO satellites up to 500kg, with a $71 million dollar investment from NSW and Government funding (Nova Systems, 2023). This hub will enable research and development between industry, Universities, and Government, to design, prototype, manufacture, integrate, and test large satellites and payloads (Nova Systems, 2023). This hub will allow in house capability to be manufactured to support and facilitate the Government’s initiative for Earth Observation satellites. These pledges highlight Australia’s reliance on other countries’ EO satellites, and capability downfalls with Australia’s current satellite fleet. Upon increased media coverage and budget commitments, the public’s interest will become more present, and it is increasingly important for the Australian public to what their taxpayer money is funding. Drawing upon the conclusions of the literature review of this topic, launching a fleet of its own EO satellites is the principal necessity for Australia to develop its sovereign satellite capability.

This development is pertinent to the Government first and foremost, as well as Universities, and industry. Subsequently, this project aims to facilitate the Australian public’s interest in Australian-owned satellite capability through data visualisation to reflect insights into capability. This includes strengths, gaps, and trends in the data. This project aims to simplify the data through visualisation to allow the general public to form a clear and concise understanding of Australia’s current satellite capability.