Malcolm Davis, The Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Keywords: Australia, SSA, STM, Space Situational Awareness, Space Traffic Management, Defence, National Security, Space 2.0, Policy, Space Law, Regulatory, Defense, National Security, Commercial Space
Abstract:
Australia has embarked on an ambitious new path towards a more visible and significant role in space, and is now beginning to develop more sophisticated space policy. The role of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management (STM) is of key importance as a central element of our space policy, both for Defence and National Security purposes, including alliance management, as well as for commercial and civil roles.
The goal of my research is to consider SSA and STM from a space policy perspective, to explore where Australian space policy currently stands in relation to SSA and STM, and explore how it needs to evolve over the next ten years for Australia to contribute global solutions for what is a global challenge. In particular, it considers the steps necessary to shape future space policy in a manner that allows it to develop and deploy capability to enable greater burden sharing in orbit with key allies, and better manage a broadening use of the space domain for national activities. The paper considers how Australia’s Space Policy needs to evolve given the challenges of operating Australian space capabilities in a contested, congested and competitive space domain. It explores what technologies and capabilities is Australia best placed to contribute towards providing global solutions towards effective SSA and STM from LEO to GEO, and how might Australia also contribute towards ‘high ground’ SSA out to Cislunar space?
In particular, it considers how commercial ‘Space 2.0’ capabilities that are being developed locally can play a role in offering solutions to government and defence requirements for SSA and STM, and explores the geographic benefits of Australia as a key actor in the global effort towards better management of an increasingly challenging space environment.
Furthermore it examines how space cooperation between five eyes partners within the Combined Space Operations (CSpO) Inititative might evolve over the next decade and explores how other Australian partners, notably Japan, might also play a role in developing a ‘five-plus’ solution to SSA and STA.
This paper thus contributes both a policy perspective and a technological assessment for a key task for Australia’s space community as it develops, after so many years of languishing in the background and becoming heavily dependent on foreign providers. The paper argues that it is time for Australia to take a pro-active and ambitious approach to SSA and STM and do more to contribute capability solutions that benefit all in a global commons, and make best use of its geography in the Southern Hemisphere. It considers the requirements for regulatory review and how Australia is responding to the need to upgrade space law solutions to manage a more complex environment, especially in the face of deployment of mega-constellations in the coming decade, and the risk posed by development of ‘counter-space’ capabilities by some states.
Date of Conference: September 15-18, 2020
Track: SSA/SDA