Australia and New Zealand Flags Photo: Creative Commons License

Australia’s SmartSat CRC is joining forces with the New Zealand Government to bring four new joint research projects under the Australia-New Zealand Collaborative Space Program. The four initial research projects, commencing in August 2024, include research into monitoring methane emissions, enhancing real-time monitoring of greenhouse gases, managing free space optical communication nodes across Australia and New Zealand, improving the tracking of space objects, and developing a joint AUS-NZ concept for maritime domain awareness. SmartSat CRC announced the new initiative July 24.

SmartSat CRC will work with New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on these projects. The partnership between SmartSat and MBIE aims to establish enduring partnerships between Australian and New Zealand researchers to create platforms for larger-scale future research collaborations, help develop talent, joint expertise and support R&D in alignment with industry and end user needs.

The SmartSat CRC is a consortium of universities and other research organizations, partnered with industry that has been funded by the Australian Government to develop know-how and technologies in advanced telecommunications and IoT connectivity, intelligent satellite systems and Earth observation next generation data services.

“In a significant advancement for Trans-Tasman space collaboration, this partnership between Australia and New Zealand in the space sector demonstrates our commitment to leveraging our combined strengths and resources. These projects are a testament to our shared vision of driving innovation and developing capabilities that will not only benefit our respective countries but also contribute to global advancements in space technology,” Andy Koronios, CEO of SmartSat CRC, said in a statement.