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Australia Owned Satellites by the numbers 2022: Results of Initial Surveys

Presented by:

Li Qiao

Li Qiao

UNSW Canberra

 

Melrose Brown

UNSW Canberra

 

Ed Kruzins

UNSW Canberra

 

Because of the numerous advantages of the various space application technologies, satellites are an essential component of our space infrastructure and are increasingly important. Hundreds of thousands of satellites currently are orbiting around Earth, and many people are interested in the number of satellites owned by Australia. In order to assist the general public in understanding the nation's satellite fleet, this study presents the preliminary findings of the survey of historical data on all Australia-owned satellites launched from 1967 to 2022, regardless of operational status. The data was collected from several databases, including the SpaceTrack database, the Union of Concerned Scientists Satellite Database, the Index of Objects Launched into Outer Space, and the Nanosats database, since the current satellite database does not report the same results. Additionally, information is double-checked using resources like Gunter's Space Page, SatNOGS, and the Satellite Mission Database of Earth Observation Portal Directory. Then a table is created that details each satellite's mission, which includes the launch year, operational status (active, dead or burned up in the atmosphere), mission type (commercial or non-profile), application (such as communication, education, technology development and scientific purpose), operators, mass, volume and so forth. In order to provide some quick facts about the historical information, the study also created a set of graphics to visualise this data. Moreover, the results reveal Australia's in-house capacity for space mission design, production, and operation.

Category:

Space history

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