Marc Garneau on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 19, 2022.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
A former Canadian astronaut, the head of Space Canada and Australian academics say the two countries should collaborate to solve mutual challenges with space technology as Australia develops its nascent space industry.
Both Canada and Australia have substantial resource extraction and agriculture sectors, which could benefit from monitoring and analysis from space. They also share similar populations, land masses and economies.
Both are also witnessing the rising threat of climate change, and especially the now-unavoidable hazards of forest fires. Canada, for its part, is expected to see the amount of forest burned annually double by 2050.
“Given the similarities between our countries and our dependence on space for adapting in the future, I think we can carve a joint path together,” said Anna Moore, director of the space institute at the Australian National University, at a panel discussion during the Australia-Canada Economic Leadership Forum. The event is a gathering of political and business leaders in Toronto this week.
Marc Garneau, former astronaut and former member of Parliament, said Australia should join Canada in the construction of Operation WildFireSat, the first constellation of satellites specifically geared at wildfire monitoring. The $170-million initiative is expected to launch three satellites in 2029.
“There is so much potential synergy between our two countries,” Mr. Garneau said. “Our two space agencies absolutely need to be talking to each other.”
Brian Gallant, chief executive officer of Space Canada and former New Brunswick premier, said Canada and Australia should work together to develop applications of space technologies for mining, given the two countries’ mutual history in the sector and the importance of those industries today.
Companies in Canada and globally are developing Earth observation technologies that could one day locate buried minerals, such as lithium, from space. This technology can also be used to automate mine management and improve safety conditions for workers.
The two countries should could also collaborate on the regulation of space, bringing together Canada’s decades of experience and Australia’s fresh perspective, Mr. Gallant said.
While Australia has a long history of participating in international projects, its domestic industry is much younger than Canada’s. The Australian Space Agency was not created until 2018, making Australia one of the last of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries to make that leap. (Canada’s agency was founded in 1989.)
Australian experts attribute the slow start to a reluctance to invest and frequent changes of political leadership and priorities. Even as of late, the country’s space program has faced setbacks.
A 2018 memorandum of understanding between Australia and Canada identified Earth observation – tracking the surface of the planet with satellite imagery – as a top priority for both countries. But at the end of June, Australia cancelled its $1.2-billion National Space Mission for Earth Observation for budget savings, raising alarm among members of the industry that lucrative opportunities were being lost.
Nonetheless, Canada and Australia are already working together on some international projects that may pit governments against the private sector.
Australia is constructing one portion of the Square Kilometre Array, a radio telescope project made of many antennas spread over one square kilometre, with the other half located in South Africa. Canada announced its intention to become a full member of the project in January, gaining a 6-per-cent use-share of the observatory.
But researchers working on the project say its output is being threatened by the radio interference from low-Earth orbit satellites, such as Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation.
Planning for the multibillion-dollar project has been under way since the late 1990s, and the antenna field in Australia will not be completed until the end of the decade. But already, astronomers are estimating that the array will be at least 70-per-cent slower than expected as a result of the interference, Lisa Kewley, a Harvard University astrophysics professor from Australia, told the forum.
As a result, the science will take “double the length of time” and will produce half the results, she said.
Prof. Moore of the Australian National University said governments should act now to pass regulation to prevent further erosion of the array’s abilities. This could require that privately owned satellites turn off, or turn away, as they pass over the array.