SA headed for title of Space State, with $10 billion spent on industry over next decade
SOUTH Australia could become the Space State, with $10 billion slated for space technology over the next decade.
CARS of the future could well have numberplates that read: South Australia — The Defence AND Space State, with both industries set to help SA live long and prosper.
On Wednesday, Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said he hoped that would be the case.
He talked up $10 billion slated for satellites and other space-related technology over the next 10 years.
Asked whether that car numberplate slogan was possible, he said: “I hope so. For SA, this presents a tremendous chance for us to create a whole new part of our economy — that is what we’re trying to do.”
Mr Pyne spoke to The Advertiser at the opening of the STELaRLAB in Melbourne.
The Lockheed Martin venture is the first of its kind outside the US; a lab to study and develop technologies including robotics, surveillance, space situational awareness (avoiding space debris), and drones.
Most of Lockheed Martin’s Australian workers are in Adelaide, on the $50 billion Future Submarine projects and other military ventures.