Lockheed Martin Australia has been awarded a $1.18 billion contract to bring the Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN) to life.
The 19-year deal signed with Geoscience Australia will aim to deliver 'instant, accurate and reliable' positioning to industry and community users in the coming weeks.
“SouthPAN reflects the Australian and New Zealand governments’ shared commitment to improved space services and the industry," Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand Chief Executive, Warren McDonald said. "As we look to the future and the arrival of new and emerging space technologies, our company is committed to growing a long-term and sustainable space presence in Australia.”
The SouthPAN initiative will deliver a signal augmenting GPS and Galileo over the Australasia region, expected to improve accuracy from 5-10 metres, to within as little as 10 centimetres.
The capability is designed to have applications across a range of users, including civil aviation, vehicle guidance, precision agriculture for efficiencies in crop management, tracking maritime shipments, and enabling navigation for drones and other unmanned vehicles.
“Space is among our fastest growing areas, and our local technical team will play an important role in delivering the benefits of SouthPAN capability to service many sectors including aviation, agriculture, transport, mining and other industries,” David Ball, Regional Director of Space for Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand said.
“Lockheed Martin is a global leader in satellite navigation technology, providing recent upgrades to the US Government’s GPS constellation. We look forward to working with the Australian and New Zealand Governments to deploy this world-class technology.”
Lockheed Martin Australia will work with the SouthPAN project team to establish a network of Global Navigation Satellite System reference stations and satellite uplink facilities that will enable communications and transmissions with the SouthPAN space infrastructure.
SouthPAN is a partnership between Geoscience Australia and Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) under the Australia New Zealand Science, Research and Innovation Cooperation Agreement.