Hensoldt Australia has opened its new office in Tasmania where the company is developing a novel Space Domain Awareness (SDA) capability using existing astronomical radio telescopes.
HENSOLDT’s Hobart facility will be the centre for the Southern Guardian SDA System integration and data analysis, to fuel further innovation and opportunities for defence and commercial space operations.
The company, the Tasmanian Government represented by the Department of State Growth (DSG) and the University of Tasmania (UTas) have formed TEAM Tasmania with the aim of establishing the state as the centre for SDA in Australia.
“Tasmania is a collective of first-class capability,” said Scott Reeman, Hensoldt’s General Manager for Strategy for Australia and New Zealand. “We are excited to be opening our Hobart office to work closely with TEAM Tasmania on Australia’s sovereign Space Domain Awareness capability and other local partners to realise opportunities in the Space, Maritime, Defence and Clean Energy domains together.”
Reeman said Tasmania’s southern location made it ideally positioned to observe and track space objects including satellites and space debris in polar orbits. “We have already commenced working with researchers at UTas to refine approaches to object tracking and orbit projections and are very proud to fund a PhD candidate in this endeavour,” he said
HENSOLDT is regarded as a global leader in space radar technology and systems, while UTas is a world-renowned research institution, with significant expertise and infrastructure in space observation and tracking.
UTas already manages an array of space infrastructure, capable of observing near-Earth orbiting objects, satellites, and space debris and further afield objects including distant space missions and asteroids. That includes radio telescopes in Tasmania and on the mainland.
The Tasmanian Government is supporting the project with the aim of building on its 2019 MOU with the Australian Space Agency to position the state as the centre for space research, development, and commercialisation.
More information on the TEAM Tasmania SDA capabilities can be found in the May-June 2021 issue of ADBR.