With its clear skies, national geospatial and astronomical infrastructure, Tasmania has an ideal polar/Southern Ocean geolocation.
The University of Tasmania’s Southern Skies Network is recognised for its capabilities in space tracking, geodetic and telemetry data collection, Very Long Baseline Interferometry, large data analysis and interpretation.
The latest addition is a 7.3m antenna funded by an Australian Space Agency Infrastructure Fund (SIF) grant. This new facility complements and expands the unique array of radio antennas at four national sites across Australia that the university currently owns and operates, supporting a wide range of low Earth Orbits to Deep Space missions.
As Australia's Antarctic gateway, Tasmania is the Australian hub of space medicine and life sciences, with a long history of Australian Antarctic Division medical research and operational medicine collaboration with NASA.
Tasmania is a founding partner in a national consortium to establish the Australian Human Research Institute for Space and Extreme Environments. This institute will consolidate Australian Translational space human life sciences capability to support global space ambitions, keep humans safe in space and extreme environments, and provide direct terrestrial health benefits.
Other supporting Tasmanian hubs include:
- the Centre for Antarctic Remote and Maritime Medicine (CARMM), which delivers medical services, training, and research for polar, maritime, and space environments
- the Tasmanian Health Service’s Department of Hyperbaric and Space Medicine, which houses the southern hemisphere’s only hyperbaric/hypobaric recompression chamber
- the Manufacturing Centre of Excellence, which offers access to training facilities and several simulators. It’s the largest simulated working environment in the southern hemisphere.
Incentives, grants and support
International businesses wanting to join the Tasmanian space sector may qualify for services, resources and support from a range of government agencies.
- The Tasmanian Government offers a range of grants and funding programs.
- Migration Tasmania runs the Business Migration Program, attracting and leveraging investments from high-calibre foreign investors.
- The Office of the Coordinator-General provides support to major investors and businesses moving to Tasmania.