Our facilities and infrastructure
Managing facilities
We manage NASA’s Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex on NASA’s behalf, and provide operational support to the European Space Agency’s tracking station at New Norcia near Perth, Western Australian.
We will also manage Australia’s share of NovaSAR-1, a sophisticated Earth observation satellite launched in 2018.
CSIRO Centre for Earth Observation
Computer generated image of NovaSAR-1 in orbit. Credit: SSTL
We manage NovaSAR-1 through our Centre for Earth Observation (CCEO). Created in 2018, CCEO coordinates our expertise in Earth observation and is now the first point of contact for anyone in Australia who wants to engage with CSIRO about Earth observation; it represents Australia internationally in Earth observation science.
CSIROSat-1
In 2018 we began a project to build and launch our own CubeSat – a miniature satellite – called CSIROSat-1, which will carry an infrared imaging system. The satellite is on track to be put in orbit from the International Space Station in 2020.
“CSIROSat-1”: CSIROSat-1 will be the first Australian satellite with infrared imaging capabilities. Credit: Inovor Technologies
To create the satellite and its systems we’ve partnered with Inovor Technologies Pty Ltd, Flurosat and Geospatial Technologies. Our research collaborators for the project are UNSW Canberra, the ANU Advanced Instrumentation and Technology Centre, and the Defence Science and Technology Group.
Due for launch later this year, the NovaSAR satellite will provide CSIRO and the wider Australian research community with access to an advanced form of radar technology known as S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar, or S-band SAR, which provides high resolution images of Earth from space.