Adelaide’s Mission Control could let you watch human missions to Mars or the Moon

A mission control “more modern” than Houston will let the public watch joint operations with NASA and other agencies live from North Terrace.

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A mission Control Centre on North Tce, “more modern” than Houston’s, will allow the public to watch joint operations with NASA and other space agencies in real time.

Those operations could eventually include human missions to Mars or the moon.

The Advertiser on Monday revealed the Federal Government would spend $6 million on a control centre at Lot Fourteen to monitor space missions, and another $6 million on a Space Discovery Centre at the site.

While launching small satellites into orbit is the core part of Australia’s fledgling space industry, Australian Space Agency head Megan Clark said that Mission Control would also show live feeds from joint missions.

Mission Control at Johnson Space Centre, Houston. Picture: AP / Houston Chronicle / Nathan Lindstrom

Asked whether one day Mission Control could witness a man on the Moon, Dr Clark said: “We don’t limit our vision in the ASA”.

“We are looking in the long term around how we participate in joint missions, how we can work with other countries in partnership,” she said.

Premier Steven Marshall declared he was “over the moon” with the announcements, and that it could help make Adelaide a “space city” like Houston, which hosts NASA’s Johnson Space Centre.

“Today’s announcement further cements Adelaide’s position as Australia’s space capital,” he said.

Former NASA astronauts Andy Thomas and Pam Melroy, both of whom split their time between Adelaide and Houston, have echoed the idea of Adelaide as a space city, drawing tourists and students and building up space-related infrastructure.

Adelaide astronaut Andy Thomas, Houston, 1998. Picture: AP / Brett Coomer

Inovor, Myriota and Fleet Space Technologies are among the South Australian satellite makers who will benefit from Mission Control.

The Federal Government announced last year Adelaide would host the space agency’s headquarters at the old Royal Adelaide Hospital site, now known as Lot Fourteen. The agency is meant to act as a hub for companies across the nation wanting to get involved in the space industry.

Federal Labor, which is expected to win May’s election, had a policy to spread the agency out rather than putting space HQ in Adelaide.

Opposition industry spokesman Kim Carr said “Labor wants all of Australia to contribute to the growing space industry, and all of Australia to benefit from it”.

Meanwhile, SpaceFest 2019 kicked off on Monday with testing of industry and university -led technology at Woomera.

Defence Minister Christopher Pyne said the trials were aimed at working out Australia’s capacity “to detect and track objects in space”.