GOES-17 image of Earth’s Western Hemisphere acquired on May 20, 2018, using the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI). Image courtesy of NOAA/NASA.

Last week, government budget proposals from the USA and Australia included funding for Earth Observation (EO) and insights into their strategic direction for the industry.

United States of America

The White House has put forward its $6 trillion budget proposal for 2023. At this stage, it’s a proposal that needs to be approved by Congress, nevertheless, it offers insight into priorities for NASA. The proposed NASA budget for 2023 is $25.974 billion, an increase of $1.93 billion on 2022, representing an 8% increase.

Around 10% of this proposal is investment in Earth Science, an increase of almost 15% on 2022. This is particularly welcome news, as the previous administration wanted to significantly reduce spending on EO.  The funding includes support for the new Earth System Observatory satellite missions, which aim to produce a three-dimensional holistic view of the planet. There is also an intention for NASA to enhance greenhouse gas monitoring and make greenhouse gas data more accessible.  This funding is under the Addressing the Climate Crisis priority and includes money to reduce the climate impacts of the aviation industry, including supporting the development of highly-efficient, next-generation airline prototypes.

The budget outlines number of other space priorities:

• Enhancing US Human Spaceflight Leadership – Further funding for the Artemis lunar exploration mission looking to return American astronauts to the Moon as soon as 2025.
• Supporting the Development of Commercial Space Stations – Continuing funding for the International Space Station (ISS) and supporting the development of commercial space stations for when the ISS retires.
• Advancing Robotic Exploration of the Moon and Mars – Funding for a lunar rover to investigate ice deposits to provide future fuel and oxygen, development of a commercial lunar payload service, and a mission to bring rock and soil samples from Mars back to Earth.
• Increasing Research & Development – Supporting the development of new technologies to help the commercial space industry grow, enhance capabilities and reduce costs. This also includes specific funding for orbital debris research.
• Broadening Participation the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) focusing on increasing the diversity of STEM students.

Australia

The Australia Government has also made EO part of its 2022-23 budget, with a A$ 1.16 billion investment over the next 16 years.

This includes an A$ 38.5 million annual investment for the first phase of a National Space Mission for Earth Observation. Led by the Australian Space Agency it will see the country design, build and operate four new EO satellites. The programme aims to make the country more self sufficient for EO data, and develop the capacity and capability of its space and satellite industry with the creation of over 500 jobs and a network of more than 100 supporting businesses.

The budget also includes a number of other space priorities:

• Moving towards the establishment of rocket launches from Australia.
• Developing a Space Strategic Update to provide direction on future funding opportunities and align Australia’s space efforts.
• Continue building relationships with international space agencies, including specific support to enable greater collaboration between Australian organisations and the Indian Space Research Organisation and Indian space sector.
• Support for STEM initiatives such as Women in STEM Ambassadors, Superstars of STEM and the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science.

Similarly, to the UK Government’s ambitions, the Australian Government has set out a commitment to triple the size of their space sector by 2030, which in this case would be an industry worth A$ 12 billion and 20,000 additional jobs.

Future For Earth Observation

These two announcements show that, despite the rapid development of the private space sector, governments still see space and EO as key strategic industries. The USA, with its long history in space, is very much focused on a public-private partnership model, together with collaboration with other countries. While Australia is also keen on collaboration, it wants to develop its own in-country industry to make it less reliant on other people to supply EO data. This shows the different levels of maturity in space in different countries, and will make the coming years very interesting.