Australia's M2 cube satellite successfully completes a controlled separation in space. A controlled separation of Australia's M2 cube satellite in space.
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Department of Defence
Defence will establish a Space Division headquarters within the Royal Australian Air Force in early 2022, with personnel from all areas within Defence reflecting the importance of the Space domain.
Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Mel Hupfeld AO, DSC, said assured access to Space was critical to enabling Defence’s multi-domain operations.
“We use Space daily for understanding the weather, navigating, access to geospatial information and sharing information across Australia or across the world,” Air Marshal Hupfeld said.
“Defence is delivering capabilities including Space domain awareness, sovereign controlled satellite communications and Space-based Earth observation, and navigation.
“The Government has committed to significantly increasing investment in Defence’s Space capabilities by investing around $7 billion this decade to ensure our access to Space, Space services and geospatial information.
Australia s new space command operation will be done well under Catherine Roberts15/05/2021|5min
Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts has been announced to new head Australia’s first space command which will be important for how “space is used in defence and military” in the future, according to ANU cosmologist and astrophysicist Dr Brad Tucker.
“What this is trying to do is – currently Australia has assets in army, navy, air force all related to space – bringing it together so you get better internal coordination, cooperation, and advancement but then really using that as how it interplays into future potential conflict,” he told Sky News.
Australia Appoints Its First Space Commander
Voice of America
10 May 2021, 20:05 GMT+10 SYDNEY - A senior female air force officer whose childhood idol was iconic Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong will become Australia s first space commander.
Air Vice-Marshal Catherine Roberts will oversee the space activities across Australia s armed forces. Experts have said the army, navy and air force have relied on space-based technologies and communication, and centralized coordination was sensible.
There is growing international competition for supremacy in space. The United States has a military arm called the U.S. Space Force while China and Russia both set up similar units in 2015.