The Challenge
The ANU Australian Centre for Space Governance advocates strongly for Australia to grow the space industry for the benefit of humankind, and to do so in a sustainable, resilient and inclusive manner. Space-based Earth Observation (EO) provides intelligence that is essential to achieving economic growth, mitigating the effects of climate and natural disasters, and managing sustainable use and environmental outcomes. Many EO small satellites are planned for future data collection. However, without investment in services for assurance and integrity of EO data, the economic benefits of these new EO missions will not be realised. The ACSG advocated for an independent assurance function not only to support the data pipeline for the Australian Government’s National Space Mission for Earth Observation (NSMEO, announced 2022, cancelled 2023), but also to enhance data quality calibration and validation from upcoming commercial EO small satellite missions. FrontierSI was contracted to provide recommendations for this assurance function, and in doing so, advocate for investment in critical downstream EO infrastructure.
Partners
FrontierSI, Symbios and the ANU Australian Centre for Space Governance.
The Solution
A business case for “Earth Observation for Assurance and Integrity Monitoring” (EO-AIM) was developed by FrontierSI, Symbios, and the ACSG for Geoscience Australia. The business case advocate for investment in downstream EO infrastructure to support domestic and international upstream EO space activities. The business case included a recommendation for an EO-AIM facility to be hosted by the Australian Government, built around expert advice and an open-source toolkit for data quality assessment against a database of known satellite specifications.
Impact
The business case was used by government agencies leading the development of NSMEO to size the magnitude and distribution of costs for downstream infrastructure required to support mission development and operations. While NSMEO was ultimately cancelled in 2023, elements of this work for EO-AIM can still be considered as part of future space program development, such as Australia’s partnership in the US Landsat Next mission, and the CSIRO-led AusCalVal centre.
Contact
To learn more, contact FrontierSI at contact@frontiersi.com.au or connect with Project Director, Dr Jia-Urnn Lee at jlee@frontiersi.com.au.
