Farewelling AuScope Board Member, Dr Peter Woodgate

Recently, we farewelled one of our much-loved Board Members, Dr Peter Woodgate after he helped to shape AuScope’s strategic direction for almost a decade. Before Peter turns his full attention to space enabled science, we reflect together on his accomplished career in science and leadership so far; and his thoughts on AuScope’s achievements, opportunities, and challenges ahead.

To start, could you tell us in a nutshell about your career so far?

I started out as a forest scientist, working for about 10 years around country Victoria, primarily in forest research and assessment. It was a privilege to map all the beautiful old forests.

Then I became involved in the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983, as a first attack crew leader then in the response and recovery. It became evident that the huge scale of the damage required a whole new approach to mapping and management, using chain and compass survey techniques from the 19th century just wasn’t sufficient for the recovery planning. And that’s when I got involved with satellites. I took on additional post-graduate qualifications in remote sensing — and that then changed my whole career.

This led me to become far more involved in spatial science and information technologies. In the 1990s the Victorian Government asked me to create a small high tech corporation and I found I loved working at the interface of science and business. I then went on to help create RMIT’s first spin-off company, Spatial Vision which is still operating today, 20 years later. My next step was to become the founding head of the CRC for Spatial Information.

The Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983 motivated Peter to take on his masters (remote sensing) and then doctorate (spatial innovation) to aid recovery efforts of such disasters in the future. Image: Dietmar Rabich

How and why did you become involved with AuScope?

During the 1990’s I led the National Airborne Geophysics Project which was tasked by the Commonwealth Government with evaluating the use of radiometric, electromagnetic, and magnetic methods for mapping dryland salinity. This brought me closer to the geoscience community. A call from my good colleague, the then Chair of AuScope, Linda Kristjanson, led to my role with AuScope.

Can you tell us about one of AuScope’s greatest achievements in your time with us?

Well, there are a number.

First and foremost, the excellence with which AuScope was conceived and managed. It's a really high performing research infrastructure organisation. AuScope has brought a much higher level of cohesion to the geosciences community. It has married a network of relationships between publicly funded research organisations, the government sector, and the private sector. And that's enabled us to really leverage the capabilities of those three sectors. That for me is the overarching and enduring benefit of AuScope.

My particular interest with AuScope is in the Geodesy Program. By providing underpinning infrastructure for global navigation satellite systems over the last decade, AuScope has helped Australia to move from meter level positioning accuracy to centimeter positioning accuracy right across the nation. This is highly important for many research areas and industry groups that use spatial data.

“If you take that away, the nation would really struggle. As it is, Australia has arguably the most cohesive national positioning program of any nation in the world.”

Another great achievement related to this program is the operational takeover of AuScope’s Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network by Geoscience Australia in 2019. AuScope is pleased to see a long-running program transition from the research infrastructure domain to operational use. It now continues on in capable hands thanks to continued Australian Government funding. An unobtrusive but essential piece of infrastructure the VLBI essentially enables us to chart the deep heavens and use that as an accurate reference base for all of our terrestrial positioning.

Learn more in our story about Australia’s latest in high precision positioning technology. Image: Get Regional

What are AuScope’s opportunities in the future?

Ok, this is what really excites me.

Australia supports two parallel initiatives that come together beautifully. The Uncover Australia initiative and the AuScope Downward-Looking Telescope initiative. And the significance of these is that, in order for Australia to take advantage of the massive mineral resources which are speculated to exist below our regolith (red soil that covers 80% of the continent), we need to understand how we can predict where they exist – and develop new exploration technologies to quantify the resource and to then plan long term for its exploitation and use.

To do this though is a real challenge, we need to be able to virtually predict where these resources are.

“So we need to bring together for the first time, complex four-dimensional process models that recreate the geological movements back through hundreds of millions of years, and then overlay on top of that a whole lot of information about what's happening at and near the surface.”

Surface information includes elevation (models) and vegetation types; and near-surface information includes downhole geological, petrophysical, and geophysical information. We need to bring all of that together in a dynamic earth model that will enable us to understand the processes which led to the formation of these mineral resources and to calculate the probability that the mineral deposits exist in target areas. We can identify new deposits with far more confidence.

And along the way, we are developing a fully functioning, 4D digital twin or model that combines ‘useful information (structure, function, and behaviour) of a physical entity — in this case Earth — in virtual space, with flows of information that enable convergence between the physical and virtual states’.

To build that digital twin, we need to bring together vast amounts of existing and future data, and then develop far more innovative and effective ways of analysing these data, to draw out the really penetrating insights. In this way we’ll create a new and exciting future for our geoscience research.

“We're talking about creating an artificial intelligence environment that learns from all of the existing information that we have, as well as the rules, logic, and ideas that our geoscience specialists and allied scientists have today.”

So it'll be the combination of the digital twin and the artificial intelligence that will become a really big feature of AuScope and its community over the coming decades. We're on the cusp of that now.

What are its challenges?

I think that challenges for AuScope (and most science organisations working digitally) relate to data, its management, and accessibility. And also analytics, making sure that we are creating robust products that are multi-user focussed and user-centric.

I think we must be prepared to become involved much deeper in the value chain, asking ourselves: ‘where does geoscience lead? Why is it so valuable for the everyday Australian?’ I think our top thinkers and communicators need to really understand the user and their needs and then communicate that back to their research community to make sure they all are devoting their precious efforts to the highest impact research outcomes. This equally applies to the research infrastructure providers including us at AuScope so that they can then position themselves to provide even higher impact support for that research.

“We should be prepared to challenge ourselves on the mix of our investments we need to make to reach economic, social, and environmental objectives, and the best way to challenge ourselves is to have an elevated understanding of why these things are important.”

We're already beautifully poised, and well placed to take on those challenges thanks to strong leadership at all levels across geosciences, and across academia, government and industry. And it's a credit to all of those many people who have been involved in our AuScope since inception.

AuScope is in the process of developing a 10-Year Strategy and a 5-Year Investment Plan to address decadal geoscience challenges that are outlined in the Decadal Plan For Australian Geoscience (2018). Learn More.

Can you share a few career highlights with us?

One highly would have to be the privilege of establishing and running the Australia New Zealand Cooperative Research Center for Spatial Information for nearly 15 years. And then helping it transition into its successor organisation with the creation of Frontier SI, which is still strongly supported by many of the partners from its former CRC program days. It has an ongoing life, and I'm really proud of that.

I’m also gratified to have played a part in advancing Australia’s national positioning capability with AuScope.

Conceiving and helping create Spatial Vision back in the 1990’s brings ongoing satisfaction.

Another highlight would be the establishment of the Victorian Government’s first remote sensing and satellite imaging capability during the late 1980’s.

More recently helping to get SmartSat CRC established over the last 18 months. It was a real thrill when the Minister announced our successful bid in 2019. I look forward to marrying up my background in spatial and space science in my role as chair over the coming years. It will be a wonderful privilege to assist with ‘space-enabling’ Australia by helping steward the space community in whatever way I can.

What about a turning point?

A turning point for me was the catastrophic Ash Wednesday bushfires, 16 February 1983.

“They opened my eyes in all sorts of ways to the power of nature and our need to use new technologies to help better manage our natural environment, especially when catastrophes strike.”

Are there opportunities for AuScope to play in the space-enabled sphere?

Yes! There are lots of opportunities for AuScope to use satellites for Earth-facing, downward-looking applications in three key areas: Positioning, Telecommunications, and Observation.

As we touched on before, we here in Australia are already advanced users and analysts of positioning satellites. However we are significantly underdeveloped in our ability to design, build, and operate our telecommunications satellites. Currently, we are on the cusp of establishing our own Australian owned and operated multi-constellation telecommunications satellites for the first time in our history.

“This is really important because telecommunications, especially in rural and remote regional Australia, is not meeting the needs of those who live and work there. Soon we will be able to really improve their lives with what's coming.”

When it comes to earth observation, we own no remote sensing satellites as a nation. And we've got by with that, but as we've seen with bushfires over the summer, we have our own immediate requirements for our unique environment. Over the course of this coming decade we are going to see new constellations of Earth Observing satellites being launched, hopefully with sensors that are designed and built in Australia — so that ultimately the full supply chain is Australian, not just the satellite asset itself.

Our goal is to establish sovereign capabilities across the entire information supply chain from onboarding analytics on satellites, right through to the terrestrial analytics for real-time application. Couple this with our aspirations to design, build, launch, task, and control our own satellites and we will have enormously improved capabilities in this century of space and digital technologies.

These are mission capabilities for managing our precious earth.

So that's why I'm so excited.

Naturally!

Yes! And I haven't even spoken about quantum key communications!

The Australian Civil Space Strategy 2019 – 2028 is an Australian Government strategy that aims to deliver a globally responsible and respected space sector that lifts the broader economic and social wellbeing for all Australians.

Go on…

Einstein predicted and it's now been proven, at least in the laboratory, that when subatomic particles leave an atom, and travel off at the speed of light in different directions, they carry properties that enable one subatomic particle to somehow predict what another atomic particle is doing. So, by reading the subatomic particles, you can actually use them as telecommunications mechanisms with messages embedded in them, theoretically. Einstein called this element of quantum entanglement physics ‘spooky action at a distance’. He couldn't explain why, but the theory said, it would be thus.

“So if we can harness quantum key telecommunications technologies, we will have a massive paradigm shift in our ability to telecommunicate information, and securely, since theoretically it produces an unbreakable code.”

This is one of the breathtaking research programs that SmartSat CRC is helping its partners develop so that Australia can be on the front foot with next-generation communications.

Wow, how extraordinary. Ok, so tell us, what are your joys outside of science?

I like to interact with people who have stimulating and challenging thoughts. I love eclectic reading, skimming across a diverse landscape, online, and with traditional print.

Despite both of my children being in their 30s and living in other parts of Australia from us, my wife and I are spending more time interacting with them and I'm loving it. We have a family philosophy to grow what we call ‘holistic wealth’. For example, I have moved to veganism last year after my daughter challenged us to examine the merits of a plant-based diet, and am now reaping the benefits!

And beyond that, I volunteer for the UNESCO Western Port Biosphere Foundation to help promote environmentally sustainable development, and act as a historian for our local Cricket Club the Ashburton Willows!

I know you are a keen (amateur!) philosopher. Would you have three life or science philosophies that you would like to share with us?

On life’s journey find yourself with good people
In science, strive for excellence, or work closely with those that can!
Be grateful for every day

And in our COVID19 challenged times I really like this poem extract from Adam Lindsay Gordon (1835-70):

“Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone.
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.”

Peter, you have given us great food for thought from this discussion. Is there anything that I’ve missed that you would like to share with our AuScope community?

I would love to thank our AuScope Board and team for the wonderful opportunity to contribute that you’ve all given me. Chris Pigram, our current chair, Linda Kristjanson, our former chair, and Bob Haydon, our former CEO - and our current team Tim Rawling, Lisa Norden, Tanja Down, and you, Jo. You have all helped to make my time particularly enjoyable, I’m sad to leave!

Thank you very much, Peter.

It's my pleasure, thanks Jo.