Think Tank: Sea, air, land and space updates (25-Oct-2016)

Christopher Cowan, Thulasi Wigneswaran, Elisabeth Buchan and Alexander Vipond

Sea State

One of the most storied names in British naval history is being revived for the Royal Navy’s new class of ballistic nuclear missile submarines. The Royal Navy announced last week that the first of its new submarines, initially dubbed the Successor-class, will be named HMS Dreadnought and the class will now be known as the Dreadnought-class. The Dreadnought name is one of the most famous in the Royal Navy, having been bestowed upon nine ships dating all the way back to the 16th century. Ships with that name have fought in some of the world’s most famous naval battles, including the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. But without a doubt the best known Dreadnought is the steam turbine powered battleship commissioned in 1906 that changed naval warfare (and the world) forever.

Significant progress is being made on the construction of two of China’s largest ever warships according to open source imagery obtained recently by Popular Science. Two hull sections of China’s enormous Type 055 cruiser—which will likely be around the same size as the newly commissioned USS Zumwalt—appear to have been completed. Meanwhile, China’s first indigenously-built aircraft carrier is even closer to completion, following the installation of its island tower earlier this month.

News Story: Miniature spacecraft for Australian Defence ready to fly

A state-of-the-art miniature satellite that will play an important role in developing Australian Defence space capability is ready for launch into orbit after successfully passing gruelling tests that simulate the harsh environment of space.

A team of space engineers from UNSW Canberra (the University of New South Wales' campus at the Australian Defence Force Academy) and Defence Science and Technology Group, put the satellite through its paces in 24/7 thermal cycling, with the help of spacecraft test engineers from the Australian National University at the Advanced Instrumentation Technology Centre on Mt Stromlo.

"The cubesat that we tested is the first of two in a joint program called Buccaneer to build Australian capability to develop and fly satellite missions," says Professor Russell Boyce, Director of UNSW Canberra Space.

Buccaneer will perform calibration experiments for Australia's world-leading over-horizon Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) from Low Earth Orbit, several hundred kilometres above the surface of the Earth.

Buccaneer will also contribute to aspects of UNSW Canberra Space's research program, looking at ways to more accurately predict the orbits of space objects.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

AUS: Defence Partners with UNSW for Space Research

Minister for Defence Senator the Hon Marise Payne announced today that Defence has commenced an innovative space research program using miniature satellites.

Space mission ‘Buccaneer’ is a partnership between Defence Science and Technology Group and the University of New South Wales that will conduct calibration activities for the Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) as well as undertake outer atmosphere characterisation experiments.

Defence will also participate in multi-national space mission ‘Biarri’ to support GPS and space situational awareness experiments.

Minister Payne said the research missions will leverage Australia’s niche expertise and reinvigorate Australia’s space engineering capability.