Ex-space shuttle commander Pamela Melroy moving to Adelaide to join Nova Systems
A FORMER NASA space shuttle commander, who spent almost 1000 hours in space and worked on the Orion spacecraft, is moving to Adelaide, hoping to help Australia’s emerging space industry take off.
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PAMELA Melroy commanded a space shuttle, spent almost 1000 hours in space, and worked on the Orion spacecraft. Now she’s moving to Adelaide, inspired to help Australia’s emerging space industry take off.
Colonel “Pambo” Melroy says she has “big ideas” and will return to SA to work with defence giant Nova Systems.
Nova Systems is set to be a major player in shaping the future of Australia’s new national space agency.
The retired astronaut was in SA this week for the International Astronautical Congress when the Federal Government announced the agency’s creation.
Colonel Melroy has been visiting Australia for more than 20 years to talk to students about space, and her hopes are that the agency will stop the brain drain.
“There’s so much talent here and so much interest. And it’s my hope that this space agency will provide the focus to enable a very robust industry that allows all that Australian native talent to stay here in Australia,” she said.
“So the ones who want to work in space don’t have to go to another country to do it.”
Colonel Melroy said “life was too short” and she “wanted to do something impactful and important”.
“After working at DARPA (the US defence department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and NASA, I’m not content with small ideas any more. It has to be a big idea,” she said.
Nova Systems chair Jim Whalley started talking to Colonel Melroy, whose flight nickname was Pambo, about Australia’s work towards setting up an agency.
“When he brought up the Australian space agency, I said: ‘Yeah, this is a big idea and not only does Australia need to do it but it really matters to do it right. And make it successful’. And so I’m very committed to doing that,” she told The Advertiser.
“It’s exciting to be a part of a big thing and to be part of it at the beginning.”
Adelaide-based Nova works with aerospace and defence companies on systems technology, and has had 15-fold growth in its space and satellite area, making it one of the biggest players in SA.
Mr Whalley said the agency was “great for Australia and great for SA”.
“It’s a huge opportunity for industry and companies including Nova. As importantly, it’s a great inspiration to our next generation of STEM,” he said, adding that having Colonel Melroy involved would be “a great lift-off for an Australian space agency”.
Colonel Melroy wanted to fly from when she was a kid — and women were not allowed. But she got there in the end. She studied, and ended up with the US Air Force as a pilot before she was picked for NASA’s Astronaut Program, reporting to the Johnson Space Centre. She’s one of only two women who have commanded the Space Shuttle Discovery.
She said people tend to think space is about astronauts, but that human space flight was only one part of it. The new technologies being created for satellite communications, GPS, and monitoring Earth are behind the boom in the industry.
Thousands of delegates at IAC have heard about the agency, and Australia’s place in the space industry, as well as more far-flung pursuits. On Friday, entrepreneur Elon Musk will update the conference on his plans for a mission to Mars.
Acting Industry, Innovation and Science Minister Michaelia Cash spoke at the IAC on Tuesday and said the agency flagged “a new era of capability and collaboration in space science”.
“Space — and all that it conjures in our minds and hearts — — holds special sway with us beyond any other human pursuit,” she said.
“It has an inimitable power to engage, inspire and transform us. For a science that is so extraordinarily complex, most of us can easily see its worth and potential, as well as its awe.”
Space Industries Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith made a statement in State Parliament on Tuesday arguing SA was best placed to take advantage of the agency because of its existing commitments, including the establishment of an SA Space Industry Centre. He pointed to job vacancies in the space industry that were being advertised, which show the diversity of the sector.
“Artificial intelligence and advanced processing power are the building blocks that today’s developers are using to move to the next frontier,” he said. “The space sector is a major player in communications, IT, medical science, mining and agriculture.”
Originally published as Ex-space shuttle commander Pamela Melroy moving to Adelaide to join Nova Systems