Mounting urgency for Australia to get a national space agency according to the State Government

AUSTRALIA needs a National Space Agency announcement by the time Adelaide hosts the “Space Olympics” in September, the State Government says.

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AUSTRALIA needs a National Space Agency announcement by the time Adelaide hosts the “Space Olympics”, the State Government says.

Their urgency is backed by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

ASPI space expert and senior analyst Dr Malcolm Davis says “often” countries want to work with us on space projects but without a “NASA equivalent”, there’s no easy point of contact.

Adelaide will host the International Astronautical Congress in September.

Dr Davis said there was “no time for delay” and that an announcement at the Congress would be critical.

It would show Australia was engaging with space for the first time since the dawn of the Space Age, he said.

The Space Age began when the Russians launched the Sputnik satellite 60 years ago on October 4, 1957.

“When you go to the US ,if you want to talk space, you go to NASA,” Dr Davis said.

“There’s a face, a point of contact — the Congress is coming up on us fast, there’s not a lot of time.”

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is set to announce details of a proposed mission to Mars at the Congress, which is the world’s biggest gathering of astronauts and space experts.

Highlights will include Australia’s role in the development of space tugs for inter-orbit transfers, the search for space junk, and the possibility of outer space settlements, Defence Industries Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith told The Advertiser.

“All eyes” would be on SA for the Congress, with SA “eyeing a larger share of the space economy”, he said.

Sputnik 1957 on a 2007 Australia Post postage stamp.

At Friday’s Council of Australian Government’s Industry Council meeting, the State Government and the ACT Government teamed up to push for a space agency headquartered in Canberra, with an operational base in South Australia.

Assistant Minister to the Treasurer Chris Picton told The Advertiser they were pushing for a quick decision so the Congress becomes a chance to tell the world about our space industry.

“The statistics are pretty telling,” he said.

“Of the massive $400 billion space industry, on the basis of our economy we should be getting about 1.8 per cent of that in Australia but we’re only getting 0.8 per cent.”

Mr Picton said the lack of an agency was a barrier to working with other countries.

“We don’t have a space industry to talk to their space industry,” he said.

The Federal Government will consult on its review of the space industry until mid September — the Congress begins on the 25th.

Science Minister Arthur Sinodinos says the review will consider the pros and cons of a national space agency.

The review is not scheduled to finish until March, but it is understood there will be an update at the Congress.

The Advertiser revealed on Friday that the $100 million Advanced Manufacturing Fund — earmarked to help South Australia and Victoria after car makers close — could help businesses transition to space.