KATHERINE BENNELL-PEGG: Australia’s place in the space industry and inspiring the next generation

There’s a quote I recently read: “To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily. But not to dare is to lose oneself.“

In space, losing your footing is a literal, daily reality.

But in pursuing bold ideas and breakthroughs, that moment of instability that comes from a leap in the dark is necessary to move forward.

We must be daring if we want to discover.

Wanting to discover – to understand through exploration - is a feeling, an imperative, that is at the core of being human. I’d argue it’s also at the core of who we are as Australians.

Woomera 1

In 1967 – almost 60 years ago, while the world was fixated on the Cold War and the Space Race, a small group of determined Aussies stood in the heat of our Australian outback.

Before them stood a rocket, and atop it, Australia’s very first satellite: WRESAT-1.

When the countdown stopped and that rocket soared into the sky, it didn’t just mark a scientific milestone. It put Australia on the map as only the fourth nation to have its own satellite launched from its own soil.

An achievement powered by that uniquely Australian blend of grit, practical engineering and healthy scepticism for the word ‘impossible’.

‘Dreaming of the stars’

Growing up as a kid dreaming of the stars, that history felt like legend. Today, standing here as a space engineer and astronaut, I don’t think of early launch and dish days as a memory, but as our foundation.

We aren’t only now entering the space industry, rather - we are on the cusp of reclaiming our place in it.

When I arrived at the Astronaut centre to begin my training, everyone was delighted and excited that Australia had stepped forward. To be the 8th space agency with an astronaut. Because they recognise what we can bring to the table.

The world wants to work with us on space. Not just because of our incredible geography, but because of the capabilities we’ve had to develop. To live and thrive in our vast and remote land beautifully translates to space. Particularly here in WA.

Artemis II

And what a time for that – with the world going back to the moon. Artemis II – what a remarkable mission!

We can now go outside and look up at the moon, and know that we are now back in the business of sending people out there and bringing them back home safely.

Unlike the Apollo era, where Aussie kids watched on in awe of the US, I hope during the Artemis era Aussies watch on in awe of our own nation’s achievements and of what our futures could hold.

This mission has captured people’s attention and inspired them to look up and out, when there are so many issues which give us the perfect excuse to look down and in.

We are once again reminded of the power of ambition and grand pursuits in peaceful partnership, the importance of preparing for the future, while in parallel confronting the challenges of the present.

Artemis – the new Apollo - is a new beginning for space exploration, and Australia’s contribution to it is also just beginning.

The broader Artemis program is a series of crewed and uncrewed missions that focuses on returning people to the moon.

Not to walk but to work, this time on the south polar region for long duration stays. To do incredible science that we cannot do on Earth, that spans every field and is relevant to every occupation.

Artemis calls for industrial services, landing pads, lunar construction, new energy systems, resource utilisation - to live off the land and prepare to go further.

Such large capability goals cannot be solved by evolutionary tech developments, so they will be drivers of step changes in global capability. In space, and here on Earth.

R-I-D-G-E

There are five main hazards of spaceflight – with of course an acronym to help remember them – RIDGE.

Each of these stresses our technologies and provides opportunities for research. Consider for a moment, the effect of the lunar environment – it’s pretty rough.

R - Radiation

Radiation threatens reliable sensing and computing. Developments to address this could lead to new materials and techniques for making electronics more resilient in extreme environments on Earth.

For humans, Artemis I and II are already driving forward advances in safe radiotherapy treatments for cancer patients on Earth, especially in women.

I - Isolation & confinement

Isolation is not just about being lonely. It also affects astronaut immune systems, drastically lowering T cell activity by about a third.

It also means lack of repair and maintenance possibilities and the need for robust operations in unmapped, GPS denied environments.

D - Distance

The moon is really, really far away. Close your eyes for a second and imagine the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

The distances are colossal. You can line up every planet in our solar system end to end and they’ll fit between us and the Moon.

This distance means you’re driven to only send up low mass.

Lower power and efficient data rate solutions are needed. Distance leads to comms delays, and limited bandwidth driving us towards next generation laser comms.

Resupply is expensive and repair is limited to what’s possible in-situ.

G - Gravity

You have hyper gravity during launch (6G - which was quite the experience in the centrifuge - you need to take sips of air), micro in transit, and low on the surface. This affects mechanisms, fluids and sensing technology. It’s hard to test well – dynamics don’t scale.

While it might look like fun, on astronaut’s bodies, weird and wonderful things happen. In ZeroG, our bones degrade at 2 per cent mass a month – or six to seven times the rate of an unmedicated postmenopausal women. Meaning astronauts are guinea pigs for diseases like osteoporosis and rehab on Earth.

The long-term very stable environment of micro gravity – or ZeroG – means that biological and physical processes are no longer suppressed by gravity, which means astronauts can do special research inside labs on the International Space Station into every field.

These include: Creating drought tolerant crops, manufacturing pure optical fibres, creating new medicines like into cancer and muscular dystrophy, and deepening our understanding of diseases like Alzheimer, advanced manufacturing of new alloys, semiconductor materials, metal foams, industrial solvents, long and pure optical fibres and also, conduct experiments that reach into the heart of every classroom.

E - Extreme hazardous environment.

The extreme and hazardous environment of ‘vacuum’ affects materials, electrostatics, mechanisms and lubrication.

Thermal conditions can mean a +/- 100 degree difference between shade and lit areas. So if your boot is in a shadow it can be quite a different temp to your knee!

The low gravity of the moon means that electrostatics are a bigger problem than on Earth, and managing the sharp dust is particularly challenging.

To handle these hazards, nations will need to work together with the best of robotics, AI, automation, cyber and interoperability.

And what is learned will be spun back to benefit terrestrial industries in what we call virtuous innovation cycles.

Virtuous innovation cycle

Those nations and businesses that involve themselves in Artemis, and space exploration more broadly, will benefit from significant global investments, prevent themselves being leapfrogged in their Earth-based business by others that would otherwise be funded to develop this capability.

They will be able to work together with integrated global supply chains, increasing industrial intelligence and ensuring they remain at the cutting edge of the cutting edge.

They will gain workforce morale, recruitment and retention benefits, and advance their capabilities.

These new technical capabilities then spin back out to applications here on the ground and in the Artemis era, WA is poised to have an outsized benefit... If you wish to rise to the challenge.

Because all of your strengths lend themselves incredibly well to the moon.

The Pilbara

We know Western Australia excels in sub-sea remote operations, automation and field robotics. In the Pilbara, we operate mine sites from about 1200km away.

There’s also microreactors, dust mitigation and asset protection, site preparation and reclamation, internet of things and safe and productive human and robotic interaction. And CSIRO’s Data61 subterranean robotic capabilities – relevant for exploring caves on the Moon and beyond.

The Australian Space Agency is building and capitalising on these strengths.

By the end of this decade, we will head to the Moon with a 20kg semi-autonomous rover, called Roo-ver, in collaboration with NASA. This will translate and adapt our strengths to the space environment.

Roover’s development has involved organisations spanning space and defence, remote operations, sub-sea and resources sectors. Including here in WA. This is a major step, opening the door for further increased involvement into the future.

WA in space

But WA’s opportunities relative to space are not confined to the Artemis program.

I work for the Australian Space Agency, so I’m not meant to play favourites with states. Instead, I’ll focus on facts:

WA is home to over 130 space organisations. As for Heads of the Australian Space Agency? Perth’s on a streak with two out of two.

Astronaut and former NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy has said that the future of space is here in WA.

From the university labs growing crops for the moon, to the huge dishes out in the dry wheatbelt tracking deep space missions.

From the red and white sands of proposed spaceports to the manufacturing of satellites in our universities and the utes shooting lasers.

To the researchers soon to float with their research inside Zero-G planes, to the robots being put through their paces in the AARP zones. To the hospitals researching astronaut health.

The WA Aussie space sector is moving from demonstration to operation – and is poised to scale – right as the global space sector is shifting geopolitically, programmatically, and industrially. That alignment is rare, and powerful. And it’s happening as the global space sector is set to triple over the next decade.

Already, Australia’s Australia exploration program is returning more than $7 for every $1 we are investing in it through the Australian Space Agency.

Australia from space

But it’s more than just an economic opportunity.

A question I often get is why focus on space when there are so many challenges here on Earth … in Australia.

Cost of living pressures. Climate catastrophes. Industries that need saving. National security to safeguard.

The answer is simple: space underpins how we address everyone of those.

Space exploration, rockets and astronauts, we are just the visible tip of the iceberg.

Exploration is the engine room of the broader space sector’s innovation and that broader space sector is what makes up the vast majority of activity.

Space is an invisible utility – the unseen infrastructure we rely on every day without noticing.

But why is space so pervasive? Well, it’s because space, ultimately, is just a place like the Ocean, and the range of activities we can do there has breadth.

Space is a place that is the ultimate high ground.

Earth from Space

From high in the sky we can see phenomenon across our vast lands and seas.

We prospect for minerals and map our coastlines. We guide emergency services during bushfires and floods. 99 per cent of climate data by volume comes from satellites in space.

What you can see from space you can connect from space, just like a super high mobile phone tower.

That’s how police officers in WA are connected more safely when outside of main cities and towns, and soon, smartphones will connect directly to satellites – expanding triple-0 coverage into the remotest areas.

What you can connect from space you can inform from space.

Every time you tap your card to buy a coffee, satellites synchronise the timing behind that transaction.

Our farmers use GPS-guided machinery to sow and harvest with unprecedented accuracy, boosting yields and reducing waste.

Ports, mines and logistics chains rely on satellite location data to operate.

Space apps

In the UK, 18 per cent of their GDP is reliant on space. Given our geography, as the 6th largest country by landmass and with our large maritime jurisdiction, I’d say the Australian economy relies on space more than this, and more than most.

At the Australian Space Agency, we coordinate across the 27 Government agencies that are involved in using space to deliver essential services for all Australians.

Space pushes us to operate at the absolute forefront of innovation, and those elevated standards flow back across the economy.

Take Australian company Axiom Precision Manufacturing. They diversified from the automotive sector into the space industry and produced components for the Orion spacecraft supply chain, the vehicle that just took people back around the Moon!

In their words: “This will help drive our quality system to the next level. Every time you lift the standards across your complete company, you create new opportunities in the same or other industries.”

The processes you hone to deliver for the demands of space are applicable across your entire business. In the case of Axiom, it means they’re a sharper operator when manufacturing for their clients in Defence, medical devices, mining and rail.

Because a space workforce is a highly-skilled, translational workforce.

The capabilities a young engineer develops while running satellite tests in Perth, or those a tradie apprentice builds while welding rocket components, are the same capabilities needed in almost every one of your industries.

The importance of STEM

Space is also one of the most powerful ways to lift the aspirations of our young people and prepare them for a rapidly changing future.

Over the past year or so, I’ve spoken with kids across the country – from big cities to remote communities – and the curiosity is extraordinary. Seven in ten Aussie primary school children would go to space if they could.

But somewhere in high school, the spark fades.

We are facing a STEM pipeline challenge. Young people just aren’t enrolling.

Australia is seeing the lowest year 12 enrolments on record in physics, intermediate maths, and higher‑level maths.

Gender gaps open early and persist. Less than 4 per cent of Australian engineers are Australian‑born women. We’re leaving too much talent on the launchpad.

It’s not going to be enough to just create more STEM jobs. “The mind is a fire to be lit, not just a vessel to be filled”, as the saying goes.

And I’ve seen firsthand, how space, when truly in reach, ignites powerful motivation.

It gets kids off devices, amazed by the world around them, and excited about the role they can play in it. It gives them a dream to aim for, and a reason to push through the hard parts.

Space is a gateway, a lure, into the full breadth of STEM fields. Especially for those that dream of going to space.

I’ve been to plenty of kids dress up parties. And while Deep tech might excite adults, I’ve never met a child dressed as blockchain.

Space draws kids in and helps them to stick with STEM, and as they grow up they may become interested in other STEM fields our country urgently needs. And not everyone needs to have a STEM career – but a longer technical education helps build a more STEM literate society that trusts in science and bases its decisions on evidence.

I’ve seen student’s eyes light up when I tell them how they don’t need to leave Australia or their state or regional areas to have a compelling space career.

Explorers

If we can harness that ambition and desire for exploration, in our young people and across our industries, then we can shape a positive future for all Australians.

In WA, we sure use the phrase ‘punching above our weight’ a lot. And rightly so. So let’s up our weight class. Perhaps it’s time to realise that we’re capable of more than we think.

We have what it takes. We proved it in the Outback more than 60 years ago. And West Australians are demonstrating it every single day.

From transforming harsh outback earth into the world’s most powerful resources, to driving the global renewable energy transition with critical minerals, to continually reimagining what’s possible with the remote—like hosting the world’s largest telescope—to industry at the edge of human endeavour. …

West Aussies don’t wait for the future to happen….. You build it.

Let’s dare, together.

Katherine Bennell-Pegg delivered her speech at the event The Nightly Live: Breakfast with Katherine Bennell-Pegg