This was a much better arrangement than just buying bits of satellite imagery and generally being further back in the queue in previous arrangements.

Dr Held said the NovaSAR satellite would be in orbit for seven years and the seat at the table for CSIRO would deliver it much better and faster access to vital data after cyclones, floods, oil spills and pollution events, and in infrastructure and agriculture mapping. It would also be used to monitor shipping routes and detect illegal activity.

Dr Held said the CSIRO had the option to enlarge its stake. "We have the door open to buy more capacity," he told The Australian Financial Review in Adelaide on the sidelines of the 68th International Astronautical Congress.

It was a big advantage to be able to direct it to engage in certain tasks. "We can program and task it to collect the data that we want," he said. Dr Held said the British Government also held a stake in the satellite but the other commercial investors hadn't been disclosed.

He said the operators of the satellite were charging a fixed price built around the cost of constructing the satellite in the first place and the costs of operating it over the next seven years.

"It's a set price," he said. There was no ability to negotiate.

The payload on the satellite is being supplied by Airbus UK.

Dr Held said the CSIRO would be making the data collected available to the wider scientific community. The images could be taken at both day and night and when it was cloudy. He said the satellite used an advanced form of radar technology which was known as S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar, which provided high resolution images of Earth from outer space. Being able to control it when it travelled over Australia meant the CSIRO was essentially using it like a piece of its own infrastructure or research station.