Study to Scope the Relocation of the Geoscience Australia Alice Springs Satellite Ground Station Facility

Geoscience Australia has operated a satellite ground station in Alice Springs since 1979. The ground station is certified as one of three global Landsat Ground Network (LGN) stations in partnership with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and provides a critical Telemetry Tracking and Commanding (TT&C) role for the Sustainable Land Imaging program satellites - Landsat-8 and Landsat-9. It is also a contributing ground station to the ANGSTT (Australian National Ground Segment Technical Team) network.

The “Australian Space Agency - Australian Civil Space Strategy 2019-2028” and “Advancing Space - Earth Observation from Space Roadmap 2021-2030” recognises the importance of ground stations and the role they play in the communication between space and Earth for operating satellites and receiving data. To respond to this growing need Geoscience Australia must look to relocate its ground station facility within the Alice Springs region to address several factors including:

• remove the threat of increasing urban encroachment

• access to more real estate to host more antennas and collocate calibration/validation infrastructure and other Earth monitoring technologies

This study will provide Geoscience Australia with a basis to make a decision on where to relocate the existing multipurpose ground station facility, which will remain in the Alice Springs area.