Australia's Space Surveillance Telescope attains final operational capability

The Space Surveillance Telescope (pictured) located at Naval Communication Station Harold E Holt in Exmouth in Western Australia is jointly operated by the US and Australia for space domain awareness. (Commonwealth of Australia)

Australia's Space Surveillance Telescope (SST), located in Exmouth in Western Australia and jointly operated with the US, has achieved final operational capability (FOC).

The FOC of the SST signifies that the system is now fully operational and ready for widespread use. With this milestone, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) now has “greater awareness of artificial objects orbiting Earth”, the Department of Defence (DoD) announced on 19 August.

Australia's Chief of Space and Cyber, Lieutenant General Susan Coyle, said, “The SST will enable us to work closely with [the] US Space Force (USSF) to detect, track, catalogue, and identify objects in geostationary [Earth] orbit (GEO), as well as predict and avoid potential collisions.”

The SST was relocated from White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to Naval Communication Station Harold E Holt in Exmouth in 2017 under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the US and Australia in 2013. The SST continues to be owned by the US, while Australia is responsible for the facilities and infrastructure, operators, and training.

“Locating the [SST] in Western Australia provides unique space domain awareness (SDA) coverage for Australia and our allies, filling a Space Surveillance Network (SSN) gap over our region,” Lt Gen Coyle said.