'A working satellite'

"This is a working satellite," says director of UNSW Canberra Space Reseach, Professor Russell Boyce. "The University of New South Wales and Defence Science and Technology group realised we had a lot of parallels. Defence provided the payload and the university built the satellite."

NASA put the device into space on a Delta Two rocket, under a joint agreement between defence and the US government.

"This is not just an education thing. My team has an operational function and we're developing capability for defence and national security," Professor Boyce says.

When fully operational the two Buccaneer space craft will measure how Jindalee radar signals interact with the ionosphere. This is for the defence department which is working on the next generation of the Australian designed long-range detection system.

Professor Russell Boyce (fifth from left) and colleagues at UNSW Canberra Space. "We will find a niche where Australia can take a role rather than play catch up." Andrew Taylor

The ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the Australian National Concurrent Design Facility, which he's announcing on Monday, is a national asset that will allow organisations such as the European Space Agency and NASA to develop world class projects in Australia. "Alongside facilities like the Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre, this new facility builds on the attractiveness of Canberra to the space industry."

Crowded space


Professor Boyce says everybody puts satellites into space, so Australia has to be careful not to compete in a contested market. "Space is sophisticated - Australia is good at certain disruptive technology, things like AI, autonomous devices, quantum physics. Combine that with space capability and we will find a niche where Australia can take a lead role ... rather than play catch up."

In September the Federal government said it would create an Australian space agency, after which a bidding war developed between Queensland and South Australia both of which want to host it.

Queensland has long held an ambition to have a rocket launching facility; the first plans were made by former premier, Sir Joh Bjelke Petersen, who wanted a space port in Cape York. Nothing came of that at the time.

Doug Griffin Space Mission Lead at UNSW Canberra Space with the Buccaneer satellite. "This is not just an education thing. My team has an operational function and we're developing capability for defence and national security." Supplied

Astrophysics scientist, Alan Duffy from Swinburne University, says it's important to get the idea of a space agency into perspective.

"A space agency won't be about blasting people into space. But it's about brining together people who use data. Scientists, experts, farmers. So the autonomous monitoring of our nation will be underpinned by data from space. Its data collection for our regular lives."

Associate professor Duffy says the potential for a space agency is it can become the voice for Australia internationally, although no one is yet aware of where that will be.