More than 50 years ago, Western Australia’s isolation played an integral role in the mission that put man on the moon – which in turn put the state on the world space map.
While WA’s isolation and uniquely dark skies continue to draw international interest, its place on the international space stage is dependent on future investment, according to astrophysicist and UWA International Space Centre director Danail Obreschkow.
UWA International Space Centre director Danail Obreschkow and space centre researcher Sascha Schediwy proudly show off the state’s best at the 30th Indo-Pacific Space and Earth Conference.Credit: Claire Ottaviano
The Swiss national came to WA more than a decade ago on the back of a billion-dollar investment in the International Centre for Radio Astronomy’s Square Kilometre Array – the world’s largest telescope – in WA’s Mid West.
Speaking after Tuesday’s state government announcement to pump a further $25 million into the project, Obreschkow said while the investment went a long way, more was needed to keep WA’s science wave growing.
“There was a lot of vision put in 10 to 15 years ago for this to materialise,” he said.
“Now, what we are trying to do is to come forward with the next project – we want to bring micro-gravity capability to Australia.”
No facility to mimic microgravity – the condition in which people or objects appear to be weightless – exists in Australia.
“It’s hugely important for developments in agriculture, in the resource sector, in medicine, those three together make up 75 per cent of the micro-gravity experiments globally,” Obreschkow said.
“That’s a big thing, and I want to bring it to Western Australia for the whole of the country.”
The UWA International Space Centre is also working to develop high-speed optical communications via laser links between a UWA-based ground station and airborne vehicles to drastically improve disaster management, including live tracking of wildfires, storms, sea ice, and flooding.
Head of the Australian Space Agency Enrico Palermo shares some of the state’s newest scientific space innovations with Science Minister Stephen Dawson and Japanese Space Agency president Hiroshi Yamakawa.Credit: Claire Ottaviano
“We have industry partners on board, we have academics on board, but we need the government to make sure that money is being funnelled into innovation to make sure that we have these success stories for the next 10 years,” he said.
“There’s so much going on, but once you stop riding the wave, it’s so hard to catch it again, we have to maintain momentum.”
More than 700 local, national and international delegates are in Perth from November 22 to 28 for the 30th Indo-Pacific Space and Earth Conference.
WA Science Minister and self-confessed “space nerd” Stephen Dawson spent Tuesday at the conference promoting the state to the world.
“In the last 10 or so years, we’ve had much stronger collaborations with organisations like NASA, with the Japanese Space Agency … these new relationships and new collaborative efforts have allowed us to take our science to the next level,” he said.
“Because of our size and because of our coastline as well, we’ve got amazing infrastructure in WA that can be put to use to explore space.”
The state government also used the conference to announce a further $3.5 million investment in a future commercial satellite building facility in the state.
WA Earth Observation company LatConnect 60 will match the $3.5 million investment to construct a satellite – expected to launch in 2026 – to detect, monitor and quantify greenhouse gas emissions across the world.
Up to 18 satellites could be built in WA under the project.
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