A landmark agreement has been signed between Australia and Greece, as both countries look to enhance their work in the field of space.
Both nations are new to space technology but are hoping to work together to go further faster and help solve challenges common to both countries.
The initial key focus for the companies involved, SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre and the Hellenic Space Centre (HSC), is developing microsatellites that can help with agriculture, environment, infrastructure, tourism and defence.
The joint research aims to share scientific and technical information, and explore synergies between the Kanyini Mission and HSC’s National Microsatellite Program using data and AI.
The agreement also encourages the exchange of experts and other collaborative activities to advance space technology and research.
The initial key areas are microsatellites, earth observation, space science and academic collaborations, and commercial networking.
Neos Kosmos spoke to the CEO of SmartSat, Professor Andy Koronios about the new venture.
Microsatellites
“Most countries now are looking to use space for a number of reasons, first of all, to build the industry and the technology, and Australia has invested heavily in this,” Koronios said.
“The whole world is investing heavily in more space assets and it’s becoming cheaper to be able to actually put satellites in space.
“In the past it was very, very expensive, it would be costing as much as half a billion dollars to actually put one satellite. Now you can put many satellites with very good capabilities as good as some of the big ones in fact because the technology is just changing so fast.”
In the past Australia and Greece haven’t had the opportunity to put satellites up, they do now.
Australia didn’t have a space agency until 2018.
“I think we were the third country in the world to launch its own computer, but that was back in the 50s and then we went to sleep,” Koronios said.
Back then a satellite had to be the size of a small bus, now they can be the size of a microwave or toaster.
He shared that the resolution on these satellites, the ability to actually see on the ground is very high now, even going down to 30cm.
“In other words, you can see someone in the backyard having a BBQ even with smaller satellites, not the big satellites that the US, Russia and China might have had in the past. ”
Earth observation and environment
These satellites can be used for agricultural applications, for environmental applications and for defence.
Australia and Greece are pushing hard in this area, especially with the issues of bushfires and wildfires both countries face.
“When we talk about looking after climate change and measuring what is happening to the environment, more than 50 per cent of all of the markers for identifying environmental impact cannot be done without space or satellites,” Koronios said.
“We were funded about $250 million at SmartSet and in the last five years we’ve been developing some really world leading technologies in communications, in Earth observation.
“Actually being able to detect smoke for bush fires very quickly, rather than having to wait until the fire is out of control.”
There is also an opportunity for Australia to help neighbouring countries.
Koronios said he has recently signed an agreement with New Zealand so they can work together to do some maritime monitoring of illegal fishing, people smuggling, drug smuggling in the South Pacific with Fiji and Tonga and all of the island nations there.
Greece also has a lot of need for monitoring its coastlines of course, outside the defence reasons, there’s also a lot of migrant migration, a lot of people smuggling, refugees, so Koronios said being able to actually monitor that from space, they are very keen.
According to a media release sent to Neos Kosmos, President of the HSC, Dr Ioannis Daglis said that they plan to build and launch seven microsatellites by 2026 and to deploy 15 satellites total.
Despite having signed a lot of agreements over the years, with the likes of NASA and the European Space Agency, Koronios said this one is the most special for him, because it’s Greece.
He came to Australia from Greece at 17 and also served in the Australian Air Force.
“I have a special relationship with both countries. I was born in Greece and was adopted by Australia. For this reason I am committed to the success of this partnership.”