Australian Government has canceled the $1.2 billion Earth Observation Project for “budget repair” purposes

?? The Federal Government, Australian Government has canceled the $1.2 billion National Space Mission for Earth Observation (NSMEO), CSIRO , for “budget repair” purposes. Geoscience Australia

Satellite Earth observations and other forms of remote sensing contribute over $5 billion annually to the Australian GDP (in 2021). The whole idea of the NSMEO was to reduce sovereign risk by providing Australia with its own remote-sensing capabilities.

Australia’s EO sector, and the benefits EO data generates for other industries, are exposed to a significant sovereign supply risk: Australia does not own or operate any EO satellite systems. At the same time, the threat of a Denial of Service (DOS) event is becoming increasingly real, particularly in the context of Australia’s role in the Global Observing System (GOS). The annual economic cost of a DOS event for EO is estimated as follows:

1. 81% of activity in the EO sector would almost immediately cease to exist as we know it. This equates to $226 million in lost (direct) value added.
2. The Australian economy (GDP) would contract by $1.9 billion due to the disruption in activity by end users of EO data (based on currently available data from 2022).

When then federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivered the 2022–23 Budget on 29 March, $38.5 million per annum was earmarked for four satellites, the first phase of the NSMEO. The overall program was promised $1.16 billion out to 2039… about $70 million annually. About 500 people were expected to be involved in the project. Yet even at that time, there was speculation that politics may turn out to be the project’s Achilles heel.

The cancellation of the NSMEO follows the axing last month of the Australian Spaceports program, which would have seen government funding assistance in the establishment of launch facilities on Australian soil.

Resources: FrontierSI , 德勤 , Deloitte Insights , Position magazine & SpatialSource.com.au , Australian Space Agency , Western Australia Spaceport , South Australian Space Industry Centre , Australian Space Data Analysis Facility (ASDAF)

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