Australia’s space industry is booming

Australians could be taking off to outer space before international travel resumes, such is the rate at which the local space industry is growing.

Head of the Australian Space Agency Enrico Palermo at the Adelaide headquarters. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Australians could be taking off to outer space before international travel resumes, such is the rate at which the local space industry is growing.

Overseeing the expansion, is Perth engineer Enrico Palermo who returned to Australia to head up the national space agency after more than a decade in the US, building spaceships for Virgin Galactic.

He said one of the key priorities for the agency was “access to space” which included “launching products and potentially people” into the cosmos.

“I think in many respects there used to be a giggle-factor about space in Australia but from my position this is a very serious opportunity for Australia to go after,” Mr Palermo said.

“I see the right conditions coming together to enable growth of the sector – we’re seeing really talented people stand up businesses, and innovative business models and technologies.”

Although there was not yet a space travel program in Australia, Mr Palermo said a new federal government initiative could help attract human space flight companies down under.

Negotiations for a bilateral Technology Safeguards Agreement with the US, would allow American companies to collaborate with Australian firms on local launch projects knowing that sensitive data was protected.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne said the agreement would extend the “enduring space partnership” between Australia and the US that had already existed for more than 50-years.

“The US has the largest commercial space sector globally and Australia is committed to expanding our collaboration including supporting NASA’s mission to put the first woman and the next man on the moon,” said Senator Payne.

With hundreds of small and medium enterprises now involved in Australia’s burgeoning space industry, Mr Palermo said the country had an increasing role to play on the global stage.

“We’re working with several entities around Australia that are applying for space port licences, so we’re not going be a bystander (to human space travel),” he said.

“We will have launch capabilities that really harness our competitive strengths, such as our geography, the special view of the sky we have, the stable geopolitical climate, good weather, large unpopulated areas and innovative talent pools.”

To mark the space agency’s third birthday on Thursday, the federal government will defer fees on applications for space activities such as launches for 12-months.

Mr Palermo said it was a positive step for the industry as it strived to triple the size of the civil space sector by 2030, creating an additional 20,000 jobs along the way.

“There isn’t really one aspect of modern life that isn’t touched in one way or another by space technology, and I think since we formed the agency in 2018 that awareness has improved,” he said.

“Whether it’s navigating around our cities, understanding what clothes to wear tomorrow from a weather perspective, how we travel and how we communicate, there’s definitely touch points and requirements for space technology. It’s so critical to life here on earth.”