The Australian Space Agency – where are we at? ​

The space agency was announced successful September 2017 astatine nan International Astronautical Congress, nan world’s largest abstraction exploration conference. Lately, we’ve seen immoderate fierce competition around wherever that caller abstraction agency mightiness beryllium based.

The WA Government has been showing disconnected WA’s abstraction capabilities to make a lawsuit for basing nan agency here.

We do person immoderate astonishing abstraction worldly successful WA. We big the Desert Fireball Network, will big portion of the Square Kilometre Array and we person a deep-space search station among different things.

But playing it disconnected arsenic authorities versus authorities is benignant of missing nan point, says Professor Steven Freeland, Dean of nan School of Law astatine Western Sydney University.

An Australian abstraction race?

Steven helped constitute nan study that led to america getting a abstraction agency successful nan first place.

“There’s bully worldly going connected each complete nan country,” he says.

“And astatine slightest to commencement with, nan abstraction agency has said it’ll beryllium based centrally successful Canberra to return advantage of that.”

Even astatine nan tallness of nan original abstraction race, abstraction was just arsenic overmuch astir cooperation as it was astir competition.

“In nan end, it’s cooperation, not competition, that’s going to maximise our abstraction potential,” Steven says.

Getting disconnected nan ground

The abstraction agency is owed to commencement operations connected 1 July 2018. It’ll beryllium headed up by Megan Clark, nan erstwhile caput of nan CSIRO.

One of their first jobs will beryllium figuring retired what their occupation really is. Their first 3 months will beryllium dedicated to penning their charter and mounting retired precisely what their domiciled will be.

While thing is confirmed yet, we tin find immoderate clues successful the space manufacture capacity review, wherever a group of abstraction experts sat down and figured retired precisely what Australia’s abstraction manufacture needs.

We tin show that they astir apt won’t beryllium launching immoderate rockets, designing immoderate abstraction probes aliases hiring immoderate astronauts—sorry, abstraction cadets.

What they will beryllium doing is talking. They’ll beryllium talking to different authorities departments to get each nan awesome abstraction worldly we already person moving nicely together. They’ll beryllium talking to different nationalist abstraction agencies to get Australians progressive successful projects. And they’ll beryllium talking to Australian abstraction and tech companies to spot what they need—potentially moreover backing them.

Talking mightiness not sound arsenic nosy arsenic launching things into space, but it’s acold from boring. In fact, this is simply a immense portion of what NASA does—companies for illustration SpaceX and Blue Origin wouldn’t get disconnected nan crushed without NASA contracts to support them.

Laws of physics

Meanwhile successful Canberra, Parliament is softly updating Australia’s abstraction laws.

Under the Outer Space treaty, Australia (as a country) is responsible for thing Australians put successful space. If we make a messiness up there, we person to salary for it arsenic a country. The Space Activities Act lets nan authorities modulate who is putting worldly up location that we’re later going to beryllium responsible for arsenic a nation.

When Australia’s abstraction authorities was written successful 1998, it was done pinch nan anticipation that only tremendous companies would beryllium participating successful nan abstraction industry.

That’s changed successful nan past 20 years. Smaller players are progressive now, and nan authorities wants to make it easier for them to participate. So nan authorities is proposing to tidy up immoderate of nan licences and propose making companies salary for conscionable $100m of immoderate harm they cause, alternatively than $750m.

Right now, that legislative alteration is earlier Parliament. It’s not glamorous, but it should make things a small easier for Australian abstraction companies.

So wherever are we now?

Getting to abstraction is complicated. There’s a batch of moving parts progressive that person to activity together perfectly. Everything is benignant of up successful nan aerial and moving very fast.

Rocky is simply a freelance writer. He has a Masters successful Science Communication from UWA. He enjoys subject fabrication books, and his favourite star strategy entity is Epimetheus.

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