Australia ‘too dependent on foreign satellites’

Lack of Australian Earth observation technology puts research at risk, report says

Australia is overly reliant on foreign sources for crucial satellite data, and the rules around the use of such data are poorly managed, a report from the University of Queensland has said.

“All of the satellite Earth observation data utilised by Australia originates from foreign sources within all sectors—government, research and commercial. Currently most of the key data sources—importantly, free and open sources—are without binding data supply agreements to support supply risk management and mitigation,” says the report, written in conjunction with the consultancy Symbios and the independent organisation Earth Observation Australia.