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Lockheed Martin has completed the critical design review of SouthPAN, the last major hurdle it needed to clear before testing can begin.
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The defence prime said the news meant all major risks had now been identified and resolved, and its system interfaces were sufficiently mature.
SouthPAN, which will serve both Australia and New Zealand, aims to eventually improve the accuracy of global positioning system (GPS) signals to as little as 10 centimetres.
The $1.18 billion project comprises two main facilities, the first located in Uralla, NSW, and the second on the southern tip of the South Island. It’s designed to be used by a number of sectors, including aviation.
SouthPAN works by using several distributed ground stations to monitor signals broadcast by global navigation satellite systems. It then compares each station’s known location with position data from the satellites.
The project is a collaboration between Geoscience Australia and Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand, alongside NSW-based Av-Comm and Lockheed.
“The completion of the CDR marks a major step toward SouthPAN achieving a safety-of-life certification to support civil aviation operations, with the system expected to become fully operationally capable in 2028,” Lockheed said.
“Lockheed Martin established SouthPAN services utilising its Second-Generation Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS), which generates augmentation messages by computing frequencies from both Galileo and GPS constellations through multiple reference stations.
“These corrections enable accuracy as close as 10 centimetres, greatly benefiting sectors like agriculture, aviation, construction, maritime, rail and more.”
The service has been live since 2022 but will become fully operationally capable in 2028.
David Ball, regional director of space for Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand, said finalising the critical design review represented significant multinational collaboration and industry partnership.
“Delivering these navigation services will transform safety and efficiency for many industries that impact our everyday lives,” he said.
Space Connect previously reported in 2023 how Australia and New Zealand signed a $190 million deal with Inmarsat to allow SouthPAN to be broadcast from one of the firm’s upcoming I-8 satellites from 2027.
Geoscience Australia, the lead Australian government agency, said the Inmarsat deal would provide “redundancy and resilience” in SouthPAN that would enable critical applications to use it.
“These services will be accessed or used by end users engaged in operations where life could be at risk, like landing an aircraft at an airport,” Geoscience said.
