Boeing, ExoAnalytic partner to support Australia's space capabilities

The ADF relies on WGS-6 (on the far left), a military communications satellite built by Boeing, that is part of the United States' WGS (Wideband Global Satellite Communications) system. Its development was funded by the Australian government. (Boeing)

Boeing and ExoAnalytic are collaborating to establish a sovereign space domain awareness operations capability for Australia, a spokesperson for Boeing told Janes .

Boeing is establishing a new operations centre in Queensland and training a team of local operators to leverage ExoAnalytic's global network of telescopes in a bid to support Australia's civil and defence space awareness needs, the spokesperson said.

Boeing and ExoAnalytic's joint solution will provide the Australian Defence Force (ADF) “with a local capability to rapidly respond to real-time ADF tasking”, the spokesperson added.

The spokesperson also said that “defence operators will be able to work alongside Boeing operators” to address the ADF's “requirements and priorities”.

“ExoAnalytic has a significant number of telescopes located in Australia at multiple remote sites,” the spokesperson said, emphasising on the project's potential to provide employment opportunities to isolated indigenous communities in the country, enhancing national self-reliance and expanding the space industry base.

Boeing said in a media release that it will be supported by ExoAnalytic's command centre in the United States to simultaneously and exclusively task multiple ground-based telescopes that can provide command-and-control (C2) and data analytics to the ADF as well as enable constant monitoring of critical space assets.

“The monitoring system is critical to ensuring optimal reliability of defence weapon, navigation, and communications systems, which rely on satellite communications,” the company added.