In this exclusive interview, Lockheed Martin Australia’s Regional Director outlines the company’s growing space activities in Australasia.
David Ball’s 40-year career began as an engineering officer in the Royal Australian Air Force working on communication systems and capabilities. During the latter stages of his time in the RAAF, he worked on the early phases of the ADF military satellite communications project, sparking his passion for the space industry. After leaving the RAAF in 1995, he worked with companies such as PanAmSat, Intelsat, NewSat Limited, Envista Pty Ltd and the Space Environment Research Centre, in a variety of technical leadership and senior management roles. In 2020, he joined Lockheed Martin Space as Regional Director Australia and New Zealand, where he’s responsible for managing the existing capabilities and services as well as determining the company’s future activities and pursuits.
Please tell us about Lockheed Martin’s operations and facilities in Australia and New Zealand.
Lockheed Martin Australia (LMA) has had a presence in Australia’s space sector for more than 20 years. Over this time, we have established a number of different domestic facilities to ensure we can meet our customers’ diverse and changing needs. One of LMA’s most significant facilities is our telemetry, tracking and command facility at Uralla, NSW, which provides transfer orbit support services and initial orbit testing for satellites after they have been launched. As SouthPAN progresses, LMA will establish core infrastructure in Uralla as well as in Invercargill, New Zealand.
Can you give us an overview of Lockheed Martin’s involvement with SouthPAN?
LMA delivered the initial service just 14 days after the $1.18 billion SouthPAN contract was executed in September 2022. We achieved this initial milestone, known as ‘Build Zero’, by leveraging investments we had already made with our technology partners and the existing infrastructure at our Uralla facility. Currently, anyone with a Satellite Based Augmentation System-enabled receiver can access SouthPAN’s satellite navigation signals, which will continue to become more accurate as we progressively roll out the ground network. Since being awarded the SouthPAN contract, we have more than doubled our technical workforce at Uralla to establish a 24/7 operations team and have also grown our back-end workforce in Canberra.
LMA has a 19-year contract to deploy and operate the SouthPAN service on behalf of Geoscience Australia and Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand. This involves progressively rolling out a number of stages in the coming years. ‘Build One’ will establish a dedicated network of ground reference stations across Australia, New Zealand and a number of neighbouring countries. Leveraging this infrastructure, SouthPAN is expected to be fully operational across Australia and New Zealand with safety-of-life certification from 2028 and will be provided as a service for 19 years with an option to extend.
Tell us about Lockheed Martin’s role in the GPS system.
Lockheed Martin has a deep heritage in GPS satellites. We designed and built 10 GPS III satellites which will provide significant capability improvements over earlier-designed GPS satellites on orbit, including three times greater accuracy and eight times greater anti-jamming capability. GPS III SV06 was successfully launched in January of this year, while GPS III SV07 to SV10 are completed and in storage waiting for the US Space Force to call them up for launch. Lockheed Martin is also designing and building the GPS III Follow On (GPS IIIF) satellites for the US Space Force. These satellites will feature even more innovative capabilities than their predecessors.
Do users need new gear to take advantage of GPS III satellites?
From a user perspective, the introduction of a new GPS satellite into the constellation is effectively seamless. Of course, GPS III and GPS IIIF have new technologies and enhanced capabilities that require additional receivers in the market to enable access to those services. But for the everyday user on a device or in their vehicle, the ability to access GPS services from the enhanced constellation is automatic — it shouldn’t require updates to hardware or software. Ideally, the only thing they should notice is the improved connectivity of the GPS service.
Tell us about your company’s efforts to boost the space workforce.
Advancing the uptake of STEM is a critical focus for LMA, as the future of the nation’s space industry depends on a highly skilled, consistent pipeline of technical workers. To this end, LMA invests in a range of STEM initiatives and activities that span from primary school to early-career level… a number of which focus on driving engagement within regional and Indigenous communities. For example, as part of our JP9102 solution, we are working with Australian education provider STEM Punks to develop and implement a 10-year space-focused curriculum to educate, up-skill and inspire Australia’s next generation technical workforce. Over its lifetime, the program will be rolled out to 80 schools across Australia, with at least a quarter representing regional and Indigenous communities.
We’ve been investing in Australia’s space industry and growing our space presence here for over two decades. Today, with our dedicated space capabilities, as well as our partnerships with Australian industry and research institutions, LMA represents a significant part of Australia’s growing sovereign space industry and is committed to playing a critical role in its development in the future. As an industry, we need to paint the full picture of the many exciting space career opportunities that exist. For example, it’s not just about the ‘upstream’ part of space, with satellites and launch vehicles, but in the ‘downstream’ too, with the myriad of applications and services that support those spacecraft when they launch and which leverage the data and content generated.
How do you see the Australian space sector developing?
Over the past decade, advances in technology and increased demand for satellite-based services, coupled with the establishment of the Australian Space Agency and other government initiatives, have ignited Australia’s space sector. To maintain this momentum and compete globally, it is crucial for the sector to define its niche and expand its capabilities in areas such as satellite communications and space situational awareness. Innovation will play a critical role in this endeavour, which is why Australia requires businesses of all sizes, including start-ups, to succeed and grow. That’s why LMA invests in innovation through funds like Main Sequence Ventures, which help to galvanise Australia’s space start-up ecosystem and support the commercialisation of globally relevant technology.
Are there any gaps that need to be filled?
The way our space sector has developed, Australia has always been a net user of other people’s data. As our space segment capabilities grow and mature, we’ll start to generate more of our own data, such as in positioning with SouthPAN being deployed. I look forward to seeing research and development that will result in innovative space-based applications and the emergence of new user communities. For example, Australia is a world leader in remote mining — those technologies and capabilities could be extended to space as we start to think about the remote servicing of satellites and the mining of lunar resources.
Finally, is there anything you’d like to convey to the geospatial community? LMA is honoured to be working with Geoscience Australia and Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand on the SouthPAN project. We look forward to the completion of the ground reference stations and the full integrity bounded signal by 2028. I’d also like to acknowledge the critical role the geospatial community is playing in developing the technology and applications that will drive Australia’s space sector forward. LMA is committed to working with industry to transfer valuable know-how and capability and help ensure that the Australian space sector remains at the forefront of innovation and continues to deliver benefits to society.
