US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Australian Defence Minister Stephen Smith have signed a Space Situational Awareness Partnership statement of principles that will expand defence space cooperation between the US and Australia.
Under the partnership agreement, the two countries will establish ground-based radar and optical stations to track satellites and other orbital objects passing over the Asia-Pacific region.
This will enable Australia to support the US Space Surveillance Network in providing more accurate warning of potential collisions between manned spacecraft, the international space station, satellites and other space debris, and to track objects falling to Earth over Australia or the region.
The sensors will also provide information on whether certain actions in space are deliberate or accidental, and trace the source of those actions, according to a ministerial consultations fact sheet.
“Australia and the US shared a deep concern about the increasingly interdependent, congested, and contested nature of outer space and acknowledged that preventing behaviours that could result in mishaps, misperceptions or mistrust was a high priority,” a joint communiqué issued after the session noted.
In addition, representatives at the consultations agreed to step up their collaboration to promote their shared national interests in cyberspace.
This includes a commitment to work together to advance the development of international norms for cyberspace.