Launching An Industry: Australia Looks to Make Giant Leaps As it Boosts Space Sector.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew

GEELONG, Australia -- Like many countries, Australia recently followed the United States' lead and created a space force in recognition of the domain's growing importance.

But it is not stopping there.

The nation is on a long path to make it less dependent on allies such as the United States for space-based capabilities such as military communications satellites, as well as the ability to launch them from its own soil.

"Australians are offering a very clear and compelling vision of their national programs and their space ambition," Johnathan Caldwell, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's military space division, told reporters at Avalon -- The Australian Air Show.

"They're creating the right environment for an industry enriching investment. And they're providing confidence to companies like ours that the market will be an enduring market," he added.

One key sign of the nation's seriousness about the realm is the creation of the Defence Space Command, which was established under the Royal Australian Air Force in January 2022.

It is responsible for coordinating the military's space mission areas and executing its Defence Space Strategy, which was published in 2022.

Among the command's main lines of effort is the goal of "advancing Australia's sovereign space capability to support the development of a sustainable national space enterprise," the command has stated.

The continent has several advantages when it comes to space operations, not the least of which is its location in the Southern Hemisphere where it can monitor the domain from its unique vantage point, experts have noted.

Since the beginning of the space age, it has hosted monitoring stations on its coasts--Satellite Ground Station West in Kojareba, Western Australia, and Satellite Ground Station East in Kapooka, New South Wales--where satellite operators have vantage points looking out over the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The Australian Defence Force has long been a participant in the U.S. military's Wideband Global Satcom System, purchasing satellites and providing capabilities such as ground stations as part of the constellation that brings broadband communications to troops.

But Australia is seeking to be more than a convenient location for others' space-based capabilities.

Its JP9102 program seeks to build a series of military communications satellites--plus the ground infrastructure to support them--all under the control of the Space Defence Force.

Richard...