By Kurtis Archer | 2026-03-20

With more than 100,000 airplanes crisscrossing the world's skies on the average day last year, and over 13,000 flying at any given time, the need for reliable air traffic management (ATM) is more critical than ever.

Planes transport more than 5 billion passengers per year, per the International Air Transport Association, and are responsible for about a third of global trade, by value.

In developed regions, robust ground-based infrastructure ensures steady coverage. Yet for flights over remote terrain and open water, consistent contact remains a major challenge for air traffic controllers.

Oceans cover more than 70% of Earth's surface. With ground-based radar, aircraft can only be monitored up to about 250 miles from land, due to the curvature of the Earth.

Although VHF radio is the international standard for aviation safety, its ground-based nature creates "dead zones" in areas without line-of-sight towers, often forcing a reliance on less stable HF radio.

The poor sound quality, interference and signal gaps that plague HF radio can lead to misunderstood instructions and flight delays.

With global air traffic increasing, Canberra-based aerospace company Skykraft is developing a constellation of over 200 low Earth orbit satellites that aims to provide global space-enabled ATM connectivity.

Initial satellite deployment began in 2023, with launches carried out in the United States via SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, and the company anticipates the constellation will be useable this year and provide full coverage by 2027.

The constellation aims to provide clear and reliable voice coverage globally by delivering VHF voice services via satellite, complementing ground-based systems.

This would provide pilots and controllers with the high-quality connection they need to ensure safer, more efficient flights, regardless of the terrain below.

Enabling consistent communication in oceanic and remote sectors would allow emergency relief, medevac, and search-and-rescue teams to stay coordinated during critical missions, among other advantages.

Benefits to global aviation

Skykraft’s satellite-based ATM also aims to reduce environmental impact and lower operating costs by shortening flight times and improving fuel planning, with the additional benefit of more predictable arrival times.

According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, even a 1% improvement in flight efficiency could potentially save hundreds of millions of gallons of jet fuel each year and prevent millions of tons of CO₂ emissions.

Enhanced communication would enable air traffic services to manage higher volumes of aircraft on optimal flight paths, minimizing the need for restrictive spacing or altitude limits.

Skykraft will partner with Airservices Australia to ensure satellites offer direct and continuous two-way VHF voice/data communication between pilots and air traffic controllers.

It will provide global, space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) for monitoring aircraft positions -- closing airspace connectivity gaps and increasing aviation safety and efficiency.

The two organizations have conducted proof-of-concept trials of the system and have shared technical engineering and ATM expertise.

Airservices Australia manages 11% of global airspace.

The company's deputy CEO Peter Curran has hailed the growing role of space technologies in enhancing airline safety, efficiency, predictability and capacity, while reducing overall infrastructure costs.

The new ATM constellation "not only benefits Airservices and our customers, but the global aviation industry," he said.

"At the moment, there are holes in the coverage over Australia," Skykraft CEO Michael Frater cautioned.

"By putting [this system] in space, we can cover a much larger area from the satellite than it’s possible to cover from a ground-based system," he said.

"For the first time, Airservices Australia will have full coverage for their surveillance service, they’ll know where every aircraft is in Australia."

Specialized technology

"We need to precisely position the spacecraft in the constellation, so they're evenly spread out… this means we need to be able to measure their position and attitude (facing direction),” Frater advised.

Frater credits Skykraft's own Attitude Determination and Control System (ADCS) with organizing the constellation.

"The ADCS has sensors that let us figure out what the orientation of a satellite is, and then it has a control system…we can change the angles of pitch (tilting up and down), yaw (turning side to side), and roll (rotating horizontally)."

The ADCS uses specialized sensors, including horizon-viewing cameras and magnetometers, to monitor the Earth’s magnetic field and maintain orientation.

When the system detects a deviation from its target attitude, onboard gyroscopes execute precise adjustments to realign the satellite.

This technology was advanced in 2022 through a Moon to Mars grant from the Australian Space Agency, which funded the development of a prototype sensor, advanced sensor algorithms, and refined overall system optimization.