Australia’s first national space mission up in the air after federal budget cuts

The 2023 federal budget revealed three space projects have been axed while the next steps for the national space mission ‘will be outlined in due course’. Photograph: Nasa/NOAA/SPL/Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF

Australia’s first national space mission – building satellites to detect and respond to bushfires and floods, and to undertake maritime surveillance – is up in the air.

The former Coalition government announced $1.2bn for a National Space Mission for Earth Observation (NSMEO), designing, building and operating four new satellites, in March last year.