2 days ago
- Katherine Bennell-Pegg was named 2026 Australian of the Year and is the first person to qualify as an astronaut under the Australian flag.
- She has a background in space engineering and is Director of Space Technology at the Australian Space Agency, emphasizing space as Earth work.
- Australia aims to triple its space industry to $12 billion and create 20,000 jobs by 2030.
- Previous Australian astronauts (Paul Scully-Power and Andy Thomas) had to become US citizens to go to space; Bennell-Pegg officially represents Australia.
- The 40th anniversary of the Challenger disaster was on 28 January, highlighting the O-ring failure due to cold weather and ignored warnings.
- The disaster led to a 32-month grounding, redesign of boosters, and creation of NASA's Office of Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance.
- Satellite hacking incidents surged by 118% in 2025, with attacks including Russian interference with Viasat and Chinese Salt Typhoon targeting US telecoms and satellite comms.
- Satellites are vulnerable due to outdated designs, long lifespans, and weak encryption; many ground systems lack cybersecurity.
- Space ISAC, NIST frameworks, and the EU's NIS2 Directive aim to improve cybersecurity for space assets, while Deloitte launched a satellite to test in-orbit cyber defense.