Research Projects

Research projects funded under the Australia New Zealand Collaborative Space Program are selected for their potential to contribute to the growth of both nation’s respective space industries. All projects will develop new capability and expertise for the Trans-Tasman space sector through the advancement of innovative R&D, as well as workforce development.

These research projects are aimed at developing scientific capacity in alignment industry and end user needs to address major environmental, economic, and social challenges for both countries. These projects will foster collaborations which can profile, leverage and expand on Australia and New Zealand’s space advantages, such as existing capabilities, southern hemisphere location, clear skies, varied topography, modern regulatory system, reputation for innovation and entrepreneurship, breadth of scientific expertise.

VERIFYING METHANESAT LIVESTOCK METHANE EMISSION ESTIMATES IN NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA USING GROUND AND AIRBORNE OBSERVATIONS

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and is the second largest anthropogenic contributor to global warming. In 2022, Australia’s emissions from cattle-derived enteric fermentation and waste management were ~41 Mt CO2e and ~4 Mt CO2e respectively, contributing ~10% of Australia’s emissions (432 Mt CO2e). In New Zealand, cattle contributed 42% of the net emissions (59.2 Mt CO2e). There are clear opportunities to reduce emissions from livestock and waste management, which must be guided by better baseline data. Currently, there is considerable uncertainty associated with the methods used to estimate emissions from dairy farms, grazing cattle and feedlots. Farm managers lack the tools to identify and implement cost-effective emission reduction programs and reduce the uncertainty in carbon accounting to minimise carbon liabilities. Real-time monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions will quantify the variable rates of emissions observed from farms and feedlots, and benchmark best management practice.

Once verified, MethaneSAT will be a valuable method for identifying mitigation opportunities, reducing the uncertainty in carbon accounts, and tracking net zero progress. This feasibility study will demonstrate how the combined use of groundbased and airborne measurements methods for quantifying the concentration of methane in the atmosphere above farms and feedlots can be used to verify MethaneSAT rate of emission products. This feasibility study will develop a comprehensive research and outreach education program to provide government departments and industry with the skills and confidence to utilise MethaneSAT products for carbon accounting and managing net zero progress. Via a field trial at one feedlot, this project will advance the aims of the Australia New Zealand Collaborative Space Program by demonstrating the value of new space technology for mitigating and managing carbon liabilities associated with agriculture.

P4.31

Australian Project Lead:
Associate Professor Bryce Kelly, UNSW Sydney
Associate Professor Nicholas Deutscher, University of Wollongong

New Zealand Project Lead:
Dr Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher, National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA)

Participants:

A FEASIBILITY STUDY INTO THE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT OF A NETWORK OF FREE SPACE OPTICAL COMMUNICATION NODES ACROSS AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

Telecommunication using coherent light has a number of advantages over using radio-frequencies. Principal of these, for most consumers, is the order of magnitude larger rates of data transmission offered by optical communications. Current ground-based telecommunication networks typically use coherent light to transmit and receive data through optical fibre. Satellites in an orbital network similarly pass data between each other using laser light. However, transmitting data between the Earth optical networks and the space optical networks is a challenge, largely owing to the disruptive effect of Earth’s atmosphere.

Several groups across Australia and New Zealand are working on overcoming the technical challenges of Earth-to-space free space optical communications (FSOC). One of these challenges is to overcome the blocking effect of clouds. A solution is to have a network of interconnected FSOC ground stations, spread across a wide longitudinal range.

Operating an international network of optical ground stations (OGSs) has a number of operational and governance challenges. This Study will provide a report on critical aspects of the operation and governance of an Australasian network of OGS nodes that will need to be addressed by stakeholders in such a project.

P4.29

Australian Project Lead:
Professor Craig Smith, University of South Australia

New Zealand Project Lead:
Victoria Louise Smith, The University of Auckland

Participants:

SUPPORTING THE SATPING INITIATIVE WITH OBSERVATION, MODELLING, AND HARDWARE DEVELOPMENT

This project brings together a multi-institution team, across Australia and New Zealand, and between academia and industry, to support steps toward the development of the SatPing initiative. The goal of SatPing is to enhance the responsible use of space, by generating more

and better information on the position and velocity of objects in Earth orbit, potentially even after decommissioning. Our team’s support for SatPing development includes a program of test observations using the passive radio frequency capability of a sensitive space situational

awareness facility in South Australia, world-leading orbit determination expertise in New Zealand, and the conceptual development of options for the on-orbit devices (and ground segments) that will be critical to the SatPing initiative.

P4.30

Australian Project Lead:
Professor Steven Tingay, Curtin University

New Zealand Project Lead:
Professor Roberto Armelin, The University of Auckland

Participants:

INDIGENOUS PATHWAYS TO ADVANCE FUEL MOISTURE EARTH OBSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVED FIRE PLANNING MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Organisations in Australian and New Zealand (ANZ) are actively developing technology and mission concepts for space-based Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). This project will investigate the alignment of these efforts and develop plans for:

• a joint AUS-NZ mission concept addressing common key national priorities, with a focus on Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA), and
• a collaborative technology development plan that enables this innovative, space-based multi-spacecraft interferometric SAR concept.

This phase A project includes:

• assessment of ANZ government stakeholder priorities and needs
• collaborative mission analysis resulting in a joint ANZ mission concept evaluation and initial research into enabling technologies for interferometric implementation, including autonomous formation flying, inter-satellite links and prototype products, and
• implementation pathways for the mission concept with risk reduction activities and intermediate technology demonstration options.

The final report will provide recommendations and stakeholder support for a Phase B collaborative work program to advance the concept and enable a joint mission. In New Zealand, Restore Lab Ltd. of Wanaka leads the development of the Takahe SAR mission concept. Takahe was originally conceived to address observational gaps relative to sea ice, marine debris, ice-sheet, coastal monitoring, and search and rescue. It is being further developed into a dual-use capability that addresses NZ government needs for maritime domain security and awareness.

The Australian Bureau of Metrology developed a mission concept to address gaps in current data for disaster mapping, tropical cyclone monitoring and sea-ice charting. The DST Group have also progressed mission concepts and technology development for a wide area vessel monitoring capability that can scale to an affordable constellation for MDA. These align with the SmartSat Indo-Pacific Connector program developing technologies for situational awareness and communication across the Indian-Pacific Ocean regions. The close alignment of these activities, and similar interests of each Nation provides the basis for this proposed collaborative mission.

P4.32

Australian Project Lead:
Dr Carl Seubert, SmartSat CRC

New Zealand Project Lead:
Dr Delwyn Moller, ReSTORe Lab Ltd

Participants:

SILVEREYE – SATELLITE IMAGING FOR LAND VEGETATION, ENVIRONMENTAL RECOVERY IN ECOSYSTEMS AND YIELD ENHANCEMENT

Current satellite technologies used in agricultural monitoring have limited application, because of delayed return time and inadequate resolution to assist with management. SilverEye is a proposed satellite capability that will bring about a step change these issues in the management of crops and environment in the southern hemisphere.

The University of Auckland and CSIRO have previously engaged in collaboration around optical design and development of novel techniques for deployable systems on small satellites. We plan to leverage this collaboration that has already resulted in several publications and co-design on several satellite instruments.

The SmartSat CRC, CSIRO and the Grain Research Development Corporation investigated the benefits of future satellite capability to the agriculture industry in a research project, published in 2023, ‘Recommendations towards a future hyperspectral sensor for crop and pasture quality’ (No. P3.25), highlighting the key gaps in current satellite capability that would meet industry needs.

With a strong understanding of the challenges faced by growers and the food industry regarding weather events, disease, weeds, and other concerns, we are in an excellent position to leverage this work to rapidly develop a working capability that will bring much more frequent and nuanced Earth Observation data to benefit the agriculture industries of Australia and New Zealand. Equally critical is knowing how to design realistic satellite instruments that can be built, launched and operated.

P4.33

Australian Project Lead:
Craig Ingram, CSIRO

New Zealand Project Lead:
Professor Guglielmo Aglietti, University of Auckland Space Institute (Te Pūnaha Ātea)

Participants:

SATELLITE SENSING INTO AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES: PHASE A – ANZ’S CAL/VAL CAMPAIGNS OF SATELLITE, AIRBORNE AND GROUND GNSS SENSING OF SOIL MOISTURE

This project will demonstrate integration of Global Navigational Satellite System (GNSS) remote sensing measurements of soil moisture from several platforms of satellites, aircraft and ground receivers. The study will obtain baseline information for exploiting remote sensing data to provide spatial and temporal variations of soil moisture at field scales through
development of the soil moisture data assimilation system. In particular, the system’s outputs are aimed to be appropriate to local water resource management and decision making for agricultural practices and environmental applications. This Phase A activity will leverage established sites where in-situ soil moisture measurements have already been gathered in Australia and New Zealand, to verify GNSS land reflection measurements from NASA’s CyGNSS satellites, New Zealand’s Rongowai aircraft, and University of Newcastle’s ground GNSS remote sensing module.

We will perform extensive comparison among satellite and aircraft GNSS reflectometry measurements, ground GNSS reflection records, and in-situ probes for verifying soil moisture changes at field scales. Our feasibility study will be the first of its kinds to put all GNSS remote sensing systems together to make satellite-airborne-ground co-located GNSS experiments for soil moisture retrieval. The field campaigns will enable us to calibrate and validate GNSS-based remote sensing sensors for monitoring soil moisture under real-world conditions; and to ensure that the sensing systems are tested across a range of climates, soil types, and terrains to optimize the sensor performance for various agricultural and environmental use cases.

The successful Phase A field calibration and validation (Cal/Val) of GNSS measurements will lead to the Phase B development of soil moisture data assimilation system (SMDAS). The SMDAS can be a game changer of integrating efficient GNSS-based remote sensing measurements with imaging radars and radiometers to retrieve soil moisture information adequate to farmers, practitioners, and governments, to save water for efficient and drought-resilient agricultural and farming practices.

P4.34

Australian Project Lead:
Craig Ingram, CSIRO

New Zealand Project Lead:
Professor Guglielmo Aglietti, University of Auckland Space Institute (Te Pūnaha Ātea)

Participants:

INDIGENOUS PATHWAYS TO ADVANCING EARTH OBSERVATION TECHNOLOGIES

This project aims to interface traditional Aboriginal and Indigenous Māori knowledge with modern scientific research to better understand and manage fire‐prone landscapes in Australia and New Zealand. Since millenia, Indigenous communities have had intimate relationships with the environment and used cultural practices and knowledge that maintained that relationship and still exists today. However, colonisation and recent climatic changes and other human activities have disrupted these traditional indicators, making it increasingly difficult to read the landscape as they once did.

This project will use satellite data to create “life maps” that present science derived models that use satellite technology to assist communities with their traditional methods of reading the landscape and assessing fuel flammability, such as moisture content in vegetation. Through the leadership of Aboriginal traditional knowledge holders working with identified Aboriginal communities and comparing their cultural assessments of landscape readiness to burn with satellite‐derived estimates of indicators, we can cross‐validate and improve scientific models. Māori practitioners will also have the opportunity to explore the alignment to mātauranga and Te Ao Māori perspectives.

This collaboration has the potential to provide access to technological tools and build capability that assist Indigenous communities and strengthen their ability to protect their environments and economies through the potential of cross-validated accurate Earth Observation (EO) technologies. Aboriginal fire techniques and practices have proven successful and advanced broader knowledge applications. This project can also advance science and provide government agencies with reliable tools for more effective land and fire management. The project ultimately aims to develop a near‐real‐time flammability monitoring system that cross‐calibrates scientific data with traditional knowledge, advancing environmental sustainability while building science relationships with communities by respecting and honouring Indigenous people and their knowledge contributions.

P4.35

Australian Project Lead:
Professor Marta Yebra, Australian National University

New Zealand Project Lead:
Dr Lisa Berndt, Scion

Participants:

ENHANCING FRACTIONAL COVER MODELS USING HYPERSPECTRAL DATA FOR IMPROVED PASTORAL CONDITION ASSESSMENT IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

A fractional cover data product quantifies the proportion of green vegetation, non-photosynthetic vegetation (e.g., dry leaves and branches), and bare soil within each pixel of a satellite image. This detailed representation supports diverse applications in agriculture, forestry, and environmental conservation where information on vegetation dynamics, soil erosion, or land degradation is needed.

This project aims to enhance the fractional cover model calibrated and proven for Australian conditions and establish its applicability in New Zealand for pasture condition monitoring. During the feasibility study, we will develop methods using hyperspectral satellite data to improve the accuracy of the fractional cover model in diverse biomes. This approach enables the expansion of the model to New Zealand and other global locations in the future robustly and cost-effectively. Another key component of the feasibility study is to apply this enhanced model to generate a fractional cover product and validate the accuracy of the product in New Zealand conditions. This approach will be further extended to develop other pasture condition product leveraging state-of-art AI foundation models for both countries.

This feasibility study will benefit government, industry, and NGOs in both Australia and New Zealand, while also laying the groundwork for global applicability. By enabling better land condition assessments and management practices, the outcomes of this study will support improvement of sustainable land use, mitigation of erosion risks, and protection of vital soil and water resources.

P4.36

Australian Project Lead:
Professor Marta Yebra, Australian National University

New Zealand Project Lead:
Dr Lisa Berndt, Scion

Participants: