Australia's Space Program

[Sylandro]

Do we have any news for Australia's space program as of late?

[stibbons]

EDIT: I forgot the rules. Sorry.

Edited August 20, 2015 by stibbons

[Whirligig Girl]

Oh yes, do lets discuss politics! That sounds fun and perfectly legal.

[stibbons]

You're right, that was over the line.

But I can say that the CSIRO has gone through significant funding cuts over the last couple of budgets. There's just no money for a space program right now.

[ComradeWolfe]

Let's change that to "under our current political climate, I don't think it's faring well". More diplomatic that way.

So for us non-Aussies, is there even an active Australian space program? Please do tell as it really would be interesting to know what you guys are up to.

Edit: Ninja'd with another better phrasing.

Edit 2: Spelling fixed.

Edited August 20, 2015 by ComradeWolfe

[Zucal]

fairing well

ayyyy

[stibbons]

So for us non-Aussies, is there even an active Australian space program? Please do tell as it really would be interesting to know what you guys are up to.

No. There have been a handful of satellites launched from the Woomera test range. The last was a UK satellite, Prospero X-3, in 1971. There are only a handful of Australian-owned satellites in active use right now, most recently the Optus communication satellites which I believe are all designed and built in the US.

[ChrisSpace]

Do we have any news for Australia's space program as of late?

What space program?

[RainDreamer]

What space program?

Do they even have a national space agency?

Edit: Just realized this sounds pretty mean. I was just curious if there is an australian space agency or not, no offense intended.

Edited August 20, 2015 by RainDreamer

[xenomorph555]

I think the Australian space program ended with the British program since they were joint. Although there are some aerospace company's that are planning to do sat launches, etc.

[Kryten]

I think the Australian space program ended with the British program since they were joint. Although there are some aerospace company's that are planning to do sat launches, etc.

Space is a lot bigger than just launches, that's something a lot of people here could do with keeping in mind.

[xenomorph555]

Space is a lot bigger than just launches, that's something a lot of people here could do with keeping in mind.

True, however from what I can read Aus does not manufacture satellites and stopped launching sounding rockets in the 90's. They appear to do research though and operate a few satellites. Still that better then most countrys I guess.

[Sylandro]

I read on Australia's national space website that it (i believe) was working with Japan/JAXA.

An joint Australian-Japanese rocket would be relatively interesting.

[jwenting]

I think the Australian space program ended with the British program since they were joint. Although there are some aerospace company's that are planning to do sat launches, etc.

yup, there never was an Aussie space program. Australia hitched a ride on the British program which was mainly a cover (for parliament/budgeting more than the Soviets) for their attempt to develop ballistic missiles.

- - - Updated - - -

Space is a lot bigger than just launches, that's something a lot of people here could do with keeping in mind.

true, but you need to get there to do stuff there, which is where the launches come in

[Dodgey]

Aside from our part in the DSN not really anymore, don't forget we live in a country with a population slightly greater than the New York State. But even so lets not forget our role in Apollo 11!

[peadar1987]

yup, there never was an Aussie space program. Australia hitched a ride on the British program which was mainly a cover (for parliament/budgeting more than the Soviets) for their attempt to develop ballistic missiles.

And the funds for the space programme mysteriously dried up as soon as the Americans shared the Polaris technology

[Yru0]

Yeah, especially given the current economic climate in Aus (commodity prices especially) - I think we may have missed our shot at getting something up and running. Although I personally am of the belief that Australia could really benefit from having an agency similar to the Canadian Space Agency. They've contributed HUGELY to space (Canadarm for instance) and have their own astronauts, while having a population and GDP which - while certainly larger than Aus' - are fairly comparable. Canada doesn't waste money on launchers which it realistically cannot afford, but operates in a niche which it can happily use to co-operate with the larger space agencies and get in on all that good space action.

But, like I said, the boat for this generation in Australia may have sailed when the boom went bust.

[fredinno]

Canada had plans to build it's own smallsat 1T to LEO launcher, at the old missile base in Fort Churchill, but there are no plans to actually build it. :-(| It would be cool if we had our own rockets too.

But yeah, CSA is pretty small, concentrating on ISS and Earth observation. I'd imagine the same is true for the Australian Space Agency.

[LordFerret]

Well, there's Space Roo 1 ... does that count?

If you ask me, I think it's very Kerbalesk.

I found him here by the way.

[kiwi1960]

There never was an Aussie space program. The one you had back in the 60's was mostly funded by the UK.