Australian citizens routinely rely on the space domain for everyday activities, such as checking the weather, completing an online purchase, navigating a road trip using their car’s global positioning system (GPS) or staying connected with friends and relatives living overseas.
In 1967, Australia became the fourth nation in the world to build and launch a satellite from its own soil into orbit.
The military consequences of losing access to space are significant, with much of our force reliant on space-based meteorology, communications, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, targeting, positioning, navigation and timing.
For the first time, the Australian Defence Force is establishing a purpose-built space workforce and investing in new space capabilities over the next decade.
Defence's vision is to enable Australian Defence Force warfighting and information advantage in operational and information environments through the generation of space capabilities that will support the realisation of the Defence space strategy.
Space careers
The space workforce will support the full suite of space mission sets, which include:
- satellite communications
- position, navigation and timing
- space domain awareness
- missile warning
- satellite operations
- space control
- intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance
- environmental monitoring.
Space capabilities
Defence is developing options to assure access to space and counter emerging space threats, through satellite communications, missile warning and space domain awareness. These space capabilities track, monitor, characterise and predict an object’s trajectory in space.
Defence achieves this through combined efforts with international partners to operate the:
- C-Band Radar
- Space Surveillance Telescope
- Deep-space Advanced Radar Capability.