
As of 2025, the ACSG has become a registered not-for-profit, having launched successfully after two years of support from ANU InSpace. We are expanding our regional reach, and are now the Australasian Centre for Space Governance. We look forward to new endeavours nationally and in the region, in collaboration with a range of partners.
Australia is at an inflection point as it grows its civil and defence space sector and emerges as a responsible space actor at a complex moment in geopolitical history. We have the potential to shape international norms of responsible behaviour in space, to contribute to solving the challenges of safety and sustainability in space, and to be world leaders in space applications such as communications, climate change response, space situational awareness, and regional security.
As Australia seeks to grow its sovereign capabilities, to partake in the global space economy, and to assert itself as a space middle power, a strong and deliberate foundation is required to underpin technological capabilities and operations. It is this foundation that will inform policies, strategies, and regulatory frameworks. The ACSG aims to support the building of this foundation.
The ACSG brings together national expertise in space law, governance, policy, security, property, history, philosophy, and political and social sciences to answer these needs.
The ACSG is committed to the values of interdisciplinary collaboration, to safety, security, and sustainability in space, and to diversity and inclusivity in the space sector.
We will ensure that Australia fulfils its potential as a space middle power and that the national space sector engages fully with Indigenous Australians, incorporating Indigenous co-design and governance values to the use of land, sea, and skies for space activities.
Mission goals
- Serve the nation’s space law and governance needs (Government, Industry, and broader stakeholders)
- Provide space law and governance education and training nationally
- Produce interdisciplinary research to solve national and global space governance challenges
ANU team
- Dr Cassandra Steer
- Associate Professor Maria Racionero Llorente
- Dr Elise Stephenson
- Dr Zena Assaad
- National Security College
Milestones
- In 2024, the ACSG hosted some closed door workshops for federal government participants, to discuss how space-based data and capabilities are critical infrastructure in support of Australia's national needs.
- In 2024, we produced several important publications, all of which can be found on our website spacegovcentre.org
- In terms of our advisory work, we made submissions to two parliamentary standing committees, on Defence and space, and on the launch sector. And we made public and confidential submissions on the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act, the Technology Safeguards Agreement, and the Australian Space Agency's sustainability policy. We have been invited as experts to contribute to discussions on these and a range of other space-related policies.
- We also began a three year Workshops on the Regulation of Space Activities and Technologies (WRegSAT), co-sponsored by UNSW Canberra and the international law firm Gilbert & Tobin.
- An exciting move in our public engagement was the launch of our "Space Matters" podcast, which includes interviews with members of the ACSG, and experts from across Australia and the world.
- As of 2025, the ACSG has become a registered not-for-profit, having launched successfully after two years of support from ANU InSpace. We are expanding our regional reach, and are now the Australasian Centre for Space Governance. We look forward to new endeavours nationally and in the region, in collaboration with a range of partners.

Breaking news
Listen to the latest podcast series from AGCS's Space Matters: The Space Governance Podcast
30 Oct 2024What are the hidden human impacts of space activities, and why should we care? In the latest bonus episode of "Space Security is Here and Now" Dr. Cassandra Steer interviews Jessica West, senior researcher at Project Ploughshares, about her expertise on space security and the lesser discussed human dimensions of space systems.