Astronauts move over, space is now for farmers
On 25 March the Australian government announced the first ever licence for a space launch facility, legally permitting rockets to fly into space from Australian territory. The licence was granted to wholly Australian-owned company Southern Launch for its Koonibba Test Range in the South Australian outback. While many are familiar with the Woomera Test Range operating since the 1950s, the site is managed by the Australian Defence Force and is almost exclusively used for government activity. The significance of the Koonibba Test Range is that Australia can now host private satellite operators and rocket manufacturers from around the world to come and test their space technologies in a safe and commercially attractive manner from Australia. This finally opens the door for Australia to enter the global space services market worth 355 billion AUD.
There is an important distinction between how space is portrayed in the movies, or the big news stories, and the true nature of space activities. In reality, this 355 billion-dollar global market isn’t created by launching astronauts into space or sending rovers to Mars. Space plays a major role in our everyday lives here on Earth and this demand of space-based services drives the global space economy. As we are so intensely dependent on services which come from space technologies, the opportunities for the private industry to participate in this market continue to increase. Without space services, there is no Google Maps, no broadband internet and no effective way to monitor the environment or manage emergencies like floods and bush-fires. Australia’s mining sector is also heavily reliant on space services, where, for instance, vehicle automation at our large ore deposits and precision farming are possible because of satellite connectivity.
Space services are making fast-paced advancements, particularly through the applications which support farming. Agriculture traditionally benefits from three types of satellite services, the first of which is global positioning and timing via GPS. An example of GPS assisting farming is the self-guidance machinery developed by companies such as John Deere. Close to 90 percent of Australia’s crop acreage is farmed using satellite-based GPS. The second type of satellite service benefiting agriculture is earth observation systems. The advances in earth imagery technologies from space allow, for example, for more accurate techniques in weather prediction, biomass evaluation, water availability and boundary mapping. The third space service is connectivity and communication systems, which is vital particularly for largescale farming operations. The ability to use a mobile phone or other handheld devices to check dam levels, a fence breach, the location of livestock or the performance of a bore pump is not possible without a satellite network orbiting the earth.
Australia is home to many world¬-leading organisations which are advancing these space services for agricultural use. Australian university research centres, government agencies, small business and private-public partnerships are all developing satellite technologies which are in increasing demand in both the domestic international agriculture markets. The catch is, these satellite technologies must be placed in outer space in order to meet the demand. A sovereign launch capability such as Southern Launch’s Koonibba Test Range in South Australia means Australia retains its unique skills (rather than exporting them to foreign markets) and grows the supply chains related to these technologies at home. This allows Australia’s domestic labour market to send the agriculture technologies it develops into space from our own territory.
With domestic launch sites for commercial use, no more will Australia send money and give away jobs to the launch industries of New Zealand, the United States, Europe or India. Instead, we can now invite international space business to Australia while providing our own satellite industry with access to space on its own terms. All the while for the benefit of farming.
Scott Schneider is Regulatory Lead at Southern Launch.
Additional Resources:
https://johndeerejournal.com/2016/03/terry-picket-first-gps-unit/
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/directorates/spacetech/spinoff/john_deere
Bryce Space and Technology, “SIA State of Space Report” available at https://brycetech.com/reports
https://www.agrifutures.com.au/product/space-based-technologies-opportunities-for-the-rural-sector/
Media Requests:
