Common interests, large investments and novel innovations have rocketed Australia and India’s space partnership to new levels.

At this year’s Bengaluru Space Expo (BSX), Head of the Australian Space Agency Enrico Palermo and an Australian industry delegation reaffirmed this unified expansion between the two nations.  

During his keynote address at the event, Mr. Palermo emphasised how Australia and India have been jointly harnessing their space sectors’ potential.

“A focus for the Australian delegation (here) is to celebrate Australia’s growing space partnership with India… and looking ahead at how we can advance that partnership further, as both our commercial space sectors develop at a rapid pace,” said Mr. Palermo.  

Galvanising mutual priorities

India is one of Australia's enduring partners, with space cooperation a key component that covers mutual areas of strategic importance.

Underpinned by a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the relationship of the two nations has gone from strength to strength.

"We share mutual strategic and economic priorities… and we’re partners in the Quad Space Working Group alongside Japan and the United States, where we are collaborating on ways to share satellite data to address climate change, enhance disaster preparedness, and better manage the impact of extreme weather events within the Indo-Pacific region," Mr. Palermo pointed out. 

In July, at the 17th Australian Space Forum, the Agency hosted the largest Indian space industry delegation on its shores. The visit four MoUs and four Letters of Intent exchanged between Australian and Indian companies as well as an engaging industry roundtable.

 

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Members of the Indian space industry delegation, including IN-SPACe’s Dr Vinod Kumar, along with colleagues from the Agency including Mr. Palermo, and representatives from the Australian space industry at the 17th Australian Space Forum in Adelaide, Australia. 

Expanding space ties 

Earlier this year, to strengthen the space economies of the two partner nations, the Australian Government announced $18 million funding for three collaborative space projects, under the Agency’s International Space Investment India (ISI) Projects program.  

“All three of these projects are now formally underway and moving ahead at pace,” Mr. Palermo shared during his keynote address.  

On the sidelines of BSX 2024, one of the grant recipients, Space Machines signed two strategic partnerships with Ananth Technologies and Digantara for the Space MAITRI mission, which will see the development of Australia’s largest spacecraft.  

“I am thrilled by this development as it will not only drive the Space MAITRI mission forward, but it creates future opportunities for collaboration. These outcomes are what our ISI India Program is designed to achieve,” the Head of the Agency added.  

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Mr Palermo along with Philip Green OAM, High Commissioner to India and members of the Australian industry delegation.

a group of people

Mr Palermo along with Philip Green OAM, High Commissioner to India and members of the Australian and Indian space industry delegation.

people posing for a photo at an event

Mr Palermo along with Dr. Pawan Goenka, Chairman of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe).

person speaking at an event

Mr Palermo speaking to an audience at BSX 2024.

Lunar ambitions

Last year, India became the first nation to successfully land its spacecraft, Chandrayaan-3, on the South Pole of the Moon. Australia played a part in this feat by tracking the spacecraft from its ground station facilities.

“We draw great inspiration from those successes in Australia as we set out to realise our own lunar ambitions with our lunar rover program called Trailblazer,” said Mr. Palermo.

Two Australian industry consortia – AROSE and ELO2 – are working on early-stage rover concepts as part of Stage One of the Agency's Moon to Mars initiative’s Trailblazer program.

The Agency is currently in the process of selecting one of these teams to go forward to build and operate the rover that will go to the Moon later this decade. 

This is one of Australia’s most advanced robotics projects, highlighting the country's field robotics and automation capabilities in harsh and remote environments stemming from our world-leading resources sector. 

The Australian industry delegation at BSX highlighted several national capabilities including CubeSat technologies, quantum communications, space domain awareness, and even next-gen spacesuit manufacturing.  

“Australia’s space sector has much to offer, and I’m proud to see a great range of our space capabilities represented here at the Expo. 

Whether you’re from Australia or here in India or elsewhere, go ahead and reach out to your counterparts, explore opportunities to work together… and help us continue the story of space partnership between nations for prosperity, for security and for our planet,” Mr. Palermo said in his concluding remarks.

A render of a future spacecraft

Building a joint space ecosystem

Learn more about the International Space Investment India Projects grant recipients

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