Space technology innovation inspired by Apollo 11 – November 2019

One year on from the establishment of the Space Future Science Platform (FSP), the inaugural Space FSP Symposium was held at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. Over 130 people from CSIRO, industry, the research sector and government attended across two days to learn more about the research being undertaken by the Space FSP through 22 projects across a wide range of space applications, in pursuit of the FSP’s aim to develop new capabilities within CSIRO and catalyse cutting-edge research that will lead to new opportunities for Australian industry and support the Australian Space Agency’s goal of tripling the size of the space sector by 2030.

EO projects under the FSP program include:

• Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Science Initiative
• High-Performance Multi-Sensor Data Analytics Platform for Earth Observation Science
• Earth observation tools for algal bloom prediction
• Satellite Ground Station for Space & Earth Observation Scientific Research
• Bridging the scale gap between satellite observations and localised ground- and drone-based measurements: a case study for perennial crops

Guest presentations were given by the Australian Space Agency, the Space Industry Association of Australia, Woodside Energy, Human Aerospace, the SmartSat CRC and the Department of Defence. The Symposium provided a great opportunity to discuss new Space FSP project ideas and engage with potential collaborators across CSIRO, industry and the research sector. Fittingly, it was held at the Sydney Powerhouse Museum, where attendees had the chance to see the Apollo 11 exhibition.