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Australia's long talked about space agency may come into existence soon:
The government will set aside $50m to fund Australia's first dedicated space agency, according to senior insiders. The ABC on Thursday reported that funding for the space agency was guaranteed in the budget on Tuesday. It is understood $50m will be given to the fledgling agency as "seed funding", with the intention that the majority of the agency's funding will come from the private sector.
Megan Clark, a former head of the [Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)] who this year completed a comprehensive review of Australia's space sector, will lead the agency, the ABC reported.
Prof Alan Duffy, an astrophysicist at Swinburne University, said the agency would be primarily focused on research and economic development. "Rather than putting people into space, it will be focused on creating jobs for those people on earth," he said. "Space is a global sector worth some $420bn and grows faster than China's economy – it's something we want to be a part of. The aim is to develop commercial opportunities so Australian start-ups and companies gain access to this very valuable sector."
There are already space-related start-ups in Australia, but the government hopes to boost Australia's share of the growing global space market from 0.8% to 1.8%.
Also at Science Magazine.
See also: Australia is late to the space agency party, but that's not necessarily a bad thing
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Saturday May 05 2018, @12:04PM (1 child)
Yeah. Australia is close to the US in size, but has only about 1/10th the population. They don't have the tax base to throw around on this.
Sounds like they're trying to be practical and are interested in developing only the capability to put satellites in Earth orbit, rather than anything further out like sending landers or people to the Moon or Mars. They're thinking perhaps they can even turn a slight profit. One advantage is their east coast is a good place to launch from. Could even launch from some uninhabited desert interior location, as they have lots of that. And they're closer to the equator than the US, Europe, Russia, or China. Other than that, there's not a compelling reason for Australia over lots of other places.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday May 05 2018, @12:19PM
They're not planning on building or launching rockets at all, they are already talking about contracting that out.
It's all about the related tech on the ground and building the actual satellites / space gear.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.