Catalyst: Strategic – Australia New Zealand Collaborative Space Programme

Detecting, characterizing and monitoring objects, vessels and ice in our shared Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) maritime domain is an arduous, costly, and resource-heavy task. The Takahē mission concept aims to transform ANZ maritime domain awareness (MDA) with innovative, dedicated space-based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) systems to the address gap in wide-area surveillance and detect small and RF dark objects under any conditions. Takahē would enable better tasking, effective responses, new science, and safer navigation and establish a new capability not provided by any existing mission.

The outcomes of our Phase 1 study confirm that our novel concept is feasible, offers vastly superior performance than the current state-of-the art, and can be implemented with existing small satellite technologies, making it opportune for an ANZ collaborative space mission. Phase 1 advanced Takahē founding technologies, primarily the modelling of the InSAR system and processing, and demonstrated a 2 order of magnitude improvement of accurate small vessel detection over existing space SAR systems. In addition, we analysed formation control designs which are needed for propellant-efficient, multi-year operations, and found those to be feasible even within a small satellite-class mission.

This next phase will continue to advance the Takahē mission by performing extensive proof-of-concept data collections over targets of stakeholder interest, demonstrating the power of the detection techniques as well as developing prototype data products for stakeholder engagement and feedback. The collections will be performed from both airborne and existing spaceborne platforms.

Coverage and performance modelling, initiated in Phase 1, will continue to refine further the mission design with direct stakeholder engagement and identify key implementation options. Furthermore, with our baseline concept, we will introduce the terrestrial impacts of Takahē for monitoring and characterising dynamic land processes including for disaster preparedness and response.

This ANZ collaborative team has the experience needed for this ambitious mission and building on strong domestic and international links, the Takahē mission concept could catapult ANZ to the forefront of maritime domain awareness while delivering an innovative sovereign capability exportable to the global market.

New Zealand is helping to build the next generation of space communication technology. This project will connect optical ground stations in New Zealand and Australia into a single, coordinated network capable of receiving laser-based data transmissions from satellites. These Free-Space Optical Communication (FSOC) systems use light instead of radio waves, offering much faster data speeds and greater security.

At present, each optical ground station operates independently. This means that if one site is covered by cloud, a satellite’s data downlink can be interrupted. By networking multiple stations across different regions, we can automatically hand over communications to a clear-sky site — keeping the data flowing and making satellite operations far more resilient. The result will be a more reliable, efficient, and secure communication pathway for satellites operating in Earth orbit.

The project is led by Associate Professor Nicholas Rattenbury at the University of Auckland, working with colleagues at partner institutions across Australia as part of the Australasian Optical Ground Station Network (AOGSN). The team brings together expertise in space science, optical engineering, and software development to design the coordination systems, operational standards, and procedures that will allow the AOGSN to operate as a unified network.

Over the next 3 years, the project will:

1. Develop software that enables scheduling, data routing, and communication handover between networked stations.
2. Establish shared standards and operational procedures to ensure reliability and interoperability across the network.
3. Produce a business case identifying how the AOGSN could transition into a commercially sustainable, internationally connected research and servicenetwork.

The project will also prepare the groundwork for future research in quantum-secured communications, a next step that would allow laser data links to be protected against eavesdropping. Although this follow-on work lies beyond the current project’s scope, the infrastructure and coordination methods developed here will make such experiments possible in the future.

When complete, this project will demonstrate the first coordinated optical ground-station network in the Southern Hemisphere. In the long term, it will strengthen New Zealand’s role in international space research, create opportunities for local industry, and help build a high-technology future that delivers economic, educational, and scientific benefits to all New Zealanders.

The availability of water to plants is an essential factor for crop growth and agricultural productivity. Moisture is a key indicator of soil health and a determinant factor for plant growth, nutrient absorption, and microbial activity. Accurate monitoring of soil moisture is critical for efficiency in irrigation and planning. For example, cotton growers need precise moisture information before irrigation, while dairy farmers rely on accurate data to manage pasture growth. Currently, soil moisture observations are provided by in-ground sensors at specific locations, which may not represent soil moisture at the field scale, or from satellites which provide insufficient spatial precision. We will overcome these limitations through the development of a soil moisture monitoring system, comprising of a new type of ground sensor, airborne data, and advanced algorithms using modelling and machine learning. The ground sensors utilise signals from global navigation satellites such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), that are reflected from the land surface. By analysing these signals, we can determine the water content of the soil. We will integrate ground sensor data with other Earth observations, using modelling and artificial intelligence algorithms, within a newly developed Australia-New Zealand Soil Moisture Data Assimilation System (ANZ-SMDAS). This project represents a strong trans-Tasman partnership involving Australian and New Zealand universities and industry. Our team is comprised of geospatial data scientists and engineers at the Universities of Canterbury (New Zealand) and Newcastle (Australia), with partner organisations including Monash University and the Soil Cooperative Research Centre (CRC). The fully operational ANZ-SMDAS soil moisture data platform this project will establish will generate regular, publicly accessible soil moisture products that can support a range of agricultural stakeholders. These products will enhance irrigation decisions and water management practices at the farm scale.