Towards a National Space Program: An Australian Perspective

In September 2019 the Australian Space Agency commenced a partnership with NASA on future space cooperation built around the Moon to Mars program under the Artemis Accords. However, Australia is yet to articulate a sustainable, mission-oriented scientific space program. Here we outline a pathway for developing a potentially transformative, low cost planetary science space program built around collaborative projects and novel technologies, by iteratively extending the capabilities of nanosatellites. Our proposal combines, builds upon and extends scientific and technical expertise existing in Australia and at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The concept embodies modular CubeSats equipped with optical terminals and miniaturized smart payloads, communicating with each other and able to form interconnected networks in LEO or interplanetary space, enabling a range of capabilities including high cadence, resilient remote sensing, geointelligence, communications, and planetary science applications.