Western Australia Space: ground infrastructure

Current space communication infrastructure and activity in Western Australia:                                               

• ESA’sNew Norcia Deep Space Ground Station is part of ESA's global tracking station network. The site contains one of only three active antennae worldwide in ESA’s deep space tracking network, with a second 35m deep space antenna currently under construction. CSIRO manages the New Norcia site.
• Mingenew Space Precinct is sited within a 300 km radio frequency Earth Station Protection Zone established by the Australian Communications and Media Authority to support the development of space communications facilities in the area. The area is also a no-fly zone to allow laser communication and ranging activities. Current operators in the Precinct include:
  • Australian Maritime Safety Authority - satellite tracking station for the regional detection and location of emergency distress beacon activations
  • Capricorn Space which also hosts ATLAS Space Operations, Infostellar, KSat, Leaf Space Srl and Planet.
  • Geosciences Australia – operates NASA’s Yarragadee Geodetic Observatory
  • Goonhilly Earth Station - WA Deep Space Ground Station (under construction)
  • Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) - Western Australia Space Centre
• Starsite is establishing new ground station-hosting facilities in the Geraldton region.
• TeraNet is a commercial three-node optical communications ground station network built to support satellite communications and international space missions. TeraNet utilises UWA’s world-leading atmospheric turbulence mitigation optical laser communication technology and also has PNT and SSA capability.
• The Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station (ADSCS), located at Kojarena is part of the US signals intelligence and analysis network ECHELON.
• Western Australia also hosts ground stations for national and international communication companies such as Cingulan Space, Inmarsat, NBN, Optus, Orion Space Systems, Sat One, Speedcast, ViaSat, ITC Global, SES, Starlink and Telstra.

Due to our ideal Southern Hemisphere geography, Western Australia also has international collaborations and research focused on technologies to detect, track and monitor objects in space. 

Key infrastructure and activities include:

• World-leading joint US-Australian Space Surveillance Telescope, C-Band Space Surveillance Radar System (operated by Raytheon Australia) and the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capacity located at the Naval Communications Station Harold E. Holt in Exmouth.
• LeoLabs’ West Australian Space Radar near Bunbury is a part of LeoLabs’ global network of ground-based, phased array radars producing high-resolution data on objects in low Earth orbit.
• EOS Space Systems, in partnership with Lockheed Martin, has constructed a new facility for Low Earth Orbit and deep space Optical Space Surveillance at Learmonth.
• Curtin University’s FireOpal is a world-class optical space tracking system developed in partnership with Lockheed Martin.
• Royal Australian Air Force Jindalee Operational Radar Network near Laverton is a state-of-the-art early warning radar system that provides wide area surveillance.
• The MWA telescope at the MRO Observatory has undertaken passive radar detection of space debris in Earth orbit. Curtin University is working with the Defence Science and Technology Group and the US Air Force on a number of projects to expand these capabilities.
• Learmonth Solar Observatory, jointly operated by Bureau of Meteorology - Space Weather Services and the US Air Force. The observatory is the site of one of six solar velocity imagers in the world-wide Global Oscillation Network Group network.
• NASA/Geoscience Australia’s MOBLAS 5 Satellite Laser Ranging Station is sited at the MSP.
• SSC has installed a SSA facility at the MSP which has been operational since 2022.
• UWA’s Space Surveillance Hub is located 70 kilometres north of Perth and hosts the following SSA ground infrastructure:
  • UWA Zadko Telescope for SSA, astronomy, gravitational wave research and tracking launch
  • French based ArianeGroup two SSA optical telescopes
  • US based Numerica - Slingshot Aerospace SSA optical telescope
  • Polish Space Agency SSA optical telescope
  • JAXA optical telescope
  • United States Air Force Academy - Falcon telescope for SSA research and STEM.
• ExoAnalytic Solutions has SSA telescope sites situated near Perth and Geraldton.
• Thoth/COMSPOC is establishing a deep space SSA facility near Carnarvon.
• Edith Cowan University is establishing local and international SSA capability.

Mainland Western Australia is the largest State in Australia and spans latitudes from -14^oS to -35^oS. Christmas Island (-10^oN) and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (-12^oN), south of Java and Sumatra are also governed by the Western Australian Government. Western Australia has a land area of 2,527,013 square kilometres and is very sparsely populated (2.7 million people).

Thus, there is an opportunity for launch to equatorial, polar and sun synchronous orbits from Western Australia. Interest in establishing launch capabilities in the State has increased significantly in recent years and a number of national and international organisations are working with the Western Australian Government to establish launch sites. Western Australia has significant experience in establishing major facilities in remote areas through its massive resources industry. There is also significant opportunity to decarbonise launch activities through the use of renewable power at facilities and green fuels for propulsion.

Current companies operating or establishing launch facilities include:

• OneTide is progressing its maritime and terrestrial rocket launch systems.
• Space Angel is progressing the establishment of the Australian Space Super Corridor, a multimodal network of commercial green spaceports on Western Australia’s south coast.
• SpinLaunch is also exploring the establishment of a spaceport on Western Australia’s south coast.
• UWA’s ISC is undertaking research focused on the ignition, combustion and explosion characteristics of propellants used in rocket engines under different environmental conditions. In addition, UWA is also investigating improving the efficiency, reliability and safety of long duration storage of large quantities of cryogenic fluids used for space missions.
• HyperPower Technologies is developing electric motors for rocketry.

There is a growing demand for space ‘returns’ whereby rockets or space manufactured products such as novel pharmaceuticals and materials are returned to Earth for use. ‘Returns’ require sparsely populated and remote areas for landing of spacecraft/capsules containing the products and Western Australia is a desirable location for these activities. A number of the companies progressing launch facilities mentioned above also have plans to conduct space returns as part of their operations.