Coast dad sends meat pie 30km into the sky

A Sippy Downs dad has taken his push for Australia to seriously enter the space race to new heights by launching a meat pie nearly 30km into the sky.

A SIPPY Downs dad has taken his push for Australia to seriously enter the space race to new heights by launching a meat pie nearly 30km into the sky.

Mic Black - a Sunshine Coast professional maker who is the Maker in Residence at the University of New South Wales' FlashBuild program created by Alex Herlihy - joined a crew of start-ups, academics and students, to make history last weekend.

As part of an event to help promote the potential of Australia's space industry, the group set a record for launching a meat pie to the highest altitude in the southern hemisphere.

IT'S A BIRD IT'S A PLANE IT'S A PIE: Mic Black has launched a meat pie 30km into the sky to help Australia's push into the space race. Picture: John McCutcheon

A Garlo's Pies meat pie was strapped into a laser-cut, 3mm plywood frame designed by Mr Black and held together by zip ties, and then sent 28.3km into the sky above the Hunter Valley by two helium-filled balloons.

The pie had a 10-hour flight time and reached speeds of up to 90km/h.

The pie froze at one point, as it reached temperatures of -70 degrees.

Parachutes ensured the pie stayed intact when it returned to the ground.

The display was part of a push backed by the NSW Government's Boosting Business Innovation Program and Mr Black hoped it would lead to a low-cost satellite launch next year.

Mr Black divides his time between the Sunshine Coast, where he lived with his wife and daughter, and other places around the nation where innovation leads him.

He said Australia was "very much behind" in the space race, but there was plenty of interest in the aerospace industry and making it a viable sector, with the likes of Delta-V's Dr Tim Parsons helping lead the charge.

IT'S A BIRD IT'S A PLANE IT'S A PIE: Mic Black has launched a meat pie 30km into the sky to help Australia's push into the space race. Picture: John McCutcheon

Mr Black said the Sunshine Coast in particular had a "lot of really strong tech talent" and knowledge would become one of the region's primary exports over the next decade, which positioned the region as a potential beneficiary of a growing space industry.

"There's so much more to space than launching a rocket," he said.

The Sunshine Coast Council has identified aviation and aerospace as one of the region's seven high-value industries as part of its Regional Economic Development Strategy.

The Sunshine Coast Aerospace Precinct at the upgraded Sunshine Coast Airport provides 22,000sq m of airside hangar space for up to B737 or A320 aircraft and landside sites of 13,500sq m in total.

Sunshine Coast Business Council chairwoman Sandy Zubrinich said she hadn't been briefed on individual investment opportunities in aerospace yet, but was definitely keen to learn more about the potential for the region.

"It's true that we are seen as an innovative region," she said.