From Tasmania to Mackay, Australians were recently surprised by a colourful light show across the night sky. This dazzling display is the result of a solar flare and coronal mass ejection. One with the potential to wreak havoc on Australian communications and critical systems.

On 22-23 May 2024, government and industry came together for Exercise Aurora. We hosted the event in partnership with the Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia, and the Department of Home Affairs.

Exercise Aurora preparing Australia for extreme weather

Exercise Aurora aims to help prepare Australia for space weather events.  While the likelihood of an extreme event is low, it's important that we remain prepared.

Over two days, our National Crisis Exercising and Lessons Capability (NCEC) walked attendees through a space weather scenario. The exercise simulated a massive geomagnetic space storm. The mock storm disrupted satellite-based communications, navigation, and critical systems.

Exercise Aurora helped test current emergency management arrangements and processes. It was an opportunity for attendees to identify the vulnerabilities of infrastructure. And to better understand how to prepare and respond to these events.

Key actions to bolster the national response

We're continuing to strengthen Australia's space weather response, by:

• Refining Australia’s Space Weather impact assessment, which helps to educate and inform key government agencies and critical infrastructure providers.
• Testing national emergency coordination arrangements for an extreme space weather event
• Assessing Australia's current technology capabilities
• Testing national plans and procedures to determine if they are fit-for-purpose
• Building awareness of the latest intelligence systems and products
• Strengthening relationships between agencies, and
• Identifying opportunities to address planning, decision-making, and response gaps.

Our National Crisis Exercising and Lessons Capability

Exercise Aurora is one of many crisis exercises designed and delivered by our team. These exercises prepare governments and key industries for responding to a range of hazards.

The team is available to support exercising, lessons management, continuous improvement and capability uplift.

We're continuing to work with agencies to build preparedness for a range of hazards, including space weather.