SA Government says Australia’s lack of action in the global space race is an embarrassment

THREE decades without a space agency has made Australia an embarrassment on the world stage, the State Government says.

A HIFiRE 5b rocket was launched at the Woomera Test Range on May 18, 2016. The rocket launch was part of flight experiments under the Australia-US collaborative project Hypersonic International Flight Research and Experimentation (HIFiRE) program aimed at investigating physical phenomena of flight at more than five times the speed of sound. HIFiRE partners include the University of Queensland, Boeing, BAE Systems and DLR (German Aerospace Center).

• Adelaide astronaut Andy Thomas calls for an Australian space program
• Musk to detail plans to colonise Mars at Adelaide conference

THE lack of a national space agency has made Australia an embarrassment on the world stage, the State Government says.

With the eyes of the world set to turn on Adelaide later this month for a gathering of space industry heavyweights, including billionaire Elon Musk, the Sunday Mail has obtained SA’s pitch to the Federal Government for the establishment of a space agency.

It was in 1984 that Australia’s first Science Minister Barry Jones commissioned a report into the need for a national space policy and agency.

Christopher Pyne.

Martin Hamilton-Smith

“A 33-year period of inaction found has left Australia as the only OECD nation in the world without a national space agency,” the State Government submission to the national Review of Australia’s space industry capability says. “To be in this position while hosting the 68th International Astronautical Congress 2017 is embarrassing in front of an industry now worth $420 billion globally.”

Federal Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne has consistently been talking up SA’s space capabilities.

But the State Government submission says without a strategic plan, Australia will be unable to invest in opportunities including space tourism and commercial spaceflights, satellite-based navigation systems, 3D printing for space applications, reusable launch vehicles and robotic servicing technologies for space applications.

Adelaide-born NASA astronaut Andy Thomas was the first Australian to go into space.

SA Defence Industries Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith said the space economy was one of five areas the government sees as key to transitioning the SA economy. “Australia needs to decide whether it is going to be a farm, a mine and a tourism destination and not much else — as important as those industries are — or whether we are going to be a smart savvy country that is at the cutting edge of the new economy,” he said.

Speaking at a business lunch here on Thursday, Mr Pyne hinted that the Federal Government may make a significant announcement during the congress.

“Over the next 10 years we plan to spend $10 billion dollars on space and satellites. That presents an enormous opportunity for us to be a producer rather than a customer,” he said. “I imagine there will be more to say about this when the congress meets in Adelaide later this year.”