12 SEPTEMBER

September 11 remembered

Americans looked back on the September 11 attacks Tuesday with solemn ceremonies, volunteer service and a presidential tribute to "the moment when America fought back". Thousands of 9/11 victims' relatives, survivors and rescuers gathered at the memorial plaza where the World Trade Center's twin towers once stood, commemorating the deadliest terror attack on US soil.

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited a memorial honouring the passengers who brought down United Airlines Flight 93 into an unpopulated field in Pennsylvania.

"America's future is not written by our enemies. America's future is written by our heroes," Trump said. "As long as this monument stands, as long as this memorial endures, brave patriots will rise up in America's hours of need and they, too, will fight back."

NEWS WRAP

Ten years since the collapse

This week marks 10 years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which became synonymous with the crisis that engulfed the United States and European financial system, but left Australia's banks relatively unscathed. Yet the ghost of Lehman still looms large for regulators, even in Australia. Director of the Centre's Trade and Investment program, Stephen Kirchner, wrote about the anniversary for ABC today. READ MORE HERE.
An anonymous op-ed published by The New York Times has paralysed the White House for much of the past week, with a stream of denials from senior staff that they authored the column (and calls for polygraph testing). Lecturer Gorana Grgic joined the ABC's 'Russia, If You're Listening' podcast to discuss the allegations in the op-ed and the fallout in the White House. LISTEN HERE.
In the aftermath of the dramatic US Open women’s final between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka, Herald Sun cartoonist Mark Knight sketched a cartoon of Williams that has drawn worldwide criticism. The Washington Post took a look at the long history of racist attacks on Williams. READ MORE HERE.
Meanwhile, Nike sales are up 31 per cent since the launch of the controversial Colin Kaepernick campaign. Market observers say that by continuing to insert himself into the ongoing debate regarding NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, President Trump may have inadvertently helped out Nike by criticising the brand on Twitter. READ MORE HERE.
CBS chief executive Les Moonves is exiting the company following a series of sexual misconduct allegations. The New Yorker's Ronan Farrow first reported on alleged harassment by Moonves, who will depart after a 20-year tenure atop one of the country's most important media empires. The CBS board initially resisted calls for Moonves to be suspended or forced out. READ MORE HERE.
Hurricane Florence is roaring across the Atlantic Ocean and is on track to crash into the southeast US coast Friday before slowing to a crawl – an ominous forecast that could deliver rainfall measured in feet rather than inches. The US National Hurricane Center said Tuesday that a “life-threatening storm surge is now highly likely” along the North Carolina and South Carolina coasts, and government officials have issued evacuation orders covering more than 1.5 million residents there as well as in Virginia. READ MORE HERE.

It's tremendously big and tremendously wet.

President Donald Trump describes Hurricane Florence
FEMA briefing, White House
11 September 2018

ANALYSIS

Can Australia be a space janitor?

Jessica Bi
Intern, Innovations & Entrepreneurship program

While the democratisation of space has had undeniable benefits, the rate of sending new satellites into orbit is overwhelming our ability to manage them. The US military is tracking around 18,000 space objects, but there are an estimated 170 million objects smaller than 1cm that are impossible to track. The ultimate danger of all of this space junk is collision.

According to the well-known Kessler syndrome, two objects colliding will generate more debris, leading to a cascading cycle of never-ending collisions and further debris. In this hypothetical but catastrophic scenario, we would lose all assets in space, such as communications satellites, and new launches would be impossible.

Space junk is a real security threat: in 2017, the US military logged 308,984 potential collisions, and 655 of those were “emergency-reportable”, says Diana McKissock of the US Air Force. This is why the United States is prioritising space junk management. In June 2018, President Trump signed a space policy directive which urged the United States to lead space traffic management, shifting responsibility of space tracking to the Department of Commerce as a reflection of growing private sector interests. The House Science Committee approved a bill appropriating millions of dollars for the creation of a situational space awareness program to manage space junk. As the commercial space market matures, the United States is clearly intent on protecting their increasingly vulnerable space assets.

Australia’s population, resources and government are considerably smaller than the United States, but its geographic and comparative advantages brings significant opportunities to further develop its niche expertise and benefit from US collaboration on this issue. The most distinct advantage is in Australia’s clear weather and vast land to place ground stations to maintain knowledge of where objects are in space and their behaviour, also known as Space Situational Awareness (SSA).

Australia’s technical capability for SSA is already well-established, with space object tracking via laser technology at the Mount Stromlo Observatory as well as a joint Australia-US ground space station in Exmouth, WA which employs a sophisticated radar facility. Australia’s capability is only growing: Curtin University and Lockheed Martin Space are collaborating on a potentially “disruptive” satellite tracking project using meteorite tracking technology. Curtin University is also working with an Adelaide space start-up to develop satellite tracking technology using existing radio waves.

Evidently, the United States is already collaborating with Australia on SSA. The space surveillance sensors in Exmouth are in fact operated with the US Air Force, which relocated their radars from New Mexico to WA in 2014. Existing cooperation gives a good foundation to consolidate the Australia-US partnership and to develop a more advanced SSA program. As the recent USSC report “Space for Growth” suggested, close US-Australian cooperation is in both of their interests: Australia gains access to technology and support from the major global space power and the United States can better maintain its dominance against rising space powers.

While today’s commercial space industry brings immense opportunities, it also adds urgency to the space junk problem. Managing space junk is in the interest of all parties – space companies must protect their own assets as they launch more satellites into space and big powers like the United States are stepping up to the ‘Space Cop’ role. Australia evidently has the niche but crucial capabilities for solving the unavoidable space junk problem, making it more important than ever to leverage Australia’s advantages and establish greater partnerships with the United States and other space companies.

DIARY

The week ahead

Saturday, 15 September: The ten-year anniversary of the largest bankruptcy filing in US history, Lehman Brothers.
Tuesday, 18 September: President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will host Polish President Andrzej Duda and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda for their first official visit to the White House.
Tuesday, 18 September: The United Nations General Assembly’s 73rd annual plenary session will convene on September 18 in New York.
17-20 September: Both houses of Australian Parliament sitting.

EVENT

Film screening: All the President's Men

The United States Studies Centre will host a special screening of Alan J. Pakula’s acclaimed 1976 political thriller, All the President’s Men.

Visiting Fellow Stephen Loosley AM (whose expertise combines presidential politics and Hollywood history) will host an audience discussion following the film, addressing the enduring relevance of the questions about presidential overreach that the film raises.

All the President's Men was nominated for eight Academy Awards and has become the gold standard for films that highlight the role of the press in American democracy. The film is based on the non-fiction book of the same name that follows journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward as they conduct the famous Watergate investigation for The Washington Post that eventually brought down the Nixon Presidency. The Watergate scandal and the film itself have been frequently compared to the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign’s alleged collusion with Russia and the limits of presidential power. All of this will make for a lively discussion following the film. Ticket includes the film, discussion and refreshments.

DATE & TIME
Tuesday, 18 September 2018
5.45pm–9.00pm

LOCATION
Hoyts Cinema, Broadway Shopping Centre

COST
$25-$35

Tickets