Australia to get Space Agency

[SinBad]

Look what we convinced our government to do!

 

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/09/25/not-nasa-government-says-new-australian-space-agency-will-be-small-profitable

 

I'm both pessimistic and hopeful about this news. our government has a track record of underselling our tech industry potential in favour of mining, farming and retail. lets hope this is a new chapter for Australian Science instead of a one stop shop for other countries to purchase land for building launch sites.

[WinkAllKerb'']

"earth will never be engaged enough according to the challenges for the generations to comes"

- you & me & you -

On a side note, regarding strong engagement of australia the past yearsssss for wildife , oceans and all, i just want to say welcome and all the best with everyone up there.

Edited September 26, 2017 by WinkAllKerb''

[tater]

Would they create a launch facility? Australia has a lot of coastal areas that could be useful as launch sites.

[James Kerman]

I hope we get the first sheep into orbit - who's laughing now, New Zealand.

[TheEpicSquared]

27 minutes ago, tater said:

Would they create a launch facility? Australia has a lot of coastal areas that could be useful as launch sites.

Yeah, a launch site somewhere in Tasmania or Kangaroo Island (near Adelaide) would be very handy for polar launches. Although I’m pretty sure a launch site would have to be on the south coast of the country, as heading north would fly over Indonesia, The Philippines, Papua, Papua New Guinea... I’m pretty sure that none of those countries would appreciate having a spent rocket dropped on their cities.

[kerbiloid]

New space agency wall display.

(Launches will be shown right-to-left. And probably up, to the south.)

Spoiler

 

[Ultimate Steve]

The more, the merrier! Can't wait to see what sort of rockets they will be using!

Edited September 26, 2017 by Ultimate Steve

[Nibb31]

Australia had a launch site at Woomera. There are still some ESA and NASA facilities there I think. But you'd be better off starting from scratch.

Australia is big and desert enough to actually allow inland launches and first stage landings 200km downrange without flying over inhabited regions.

However, I don't think they necessarily have launches in mind. An Australian Space Agency could just handle cooperation projects with other agencies.

 

[DerekL1963]

2 minutes ago, Nibb31 said:

An Australian Space Agency could just handle cooperation projects with other agencies.

It appears to be intended to do that and also act as a kind of a clearinghouse/central point of contact for space related business.  It's not really going to a launch agency or any kind of operator at all.

[Ultimate Steve]

3 hours ago, DerekL1963 said:

It appears to be intended to do that and also act as a kind of a clearinghouse/central point of contact for space related business.  It's not really going to a launch agency or any kind of operator at all.

Aww.

[Mitchz95]

Huh, I always thought Australia was too far south to launch stuff efficiently.

But congrats!

[Nibb31]

52 minutes ago, Mitchz95 said:

Huh, I always thought Australia was too far south to launch stuff efficiently.

But congrats!

I see what you did there.

[Hannu2]

11 hours ago, Mitchz95 said:

Huh, I always thought Australia was too far south to launch stuff efficiently.

But congrats!

I thought too, but if I look at that map the most of the east coast is nearer equator than Cape Canaveral. They can build their launch facility at peninsula near Coral sea at about 15 south latitude and fly between Solomon islands and Vanuatu.

[Streetwind]

https://spaceaustralia.com.au/

The Australian public is very enthusiastic about the proposal... in the typical Aussie manner.  

(DISCLAIMER: not an actual government website)

[NSEP]

Wait is the name *Censored* serious and real?

Edited September 27, 2017 by NSEP

[Streetwind]

^--- Exhibit A: in which NSEP fails his Australian humor test.

[linuxgurugamer]

On 9/26/2017 at 10:11 AM, kerbiloid said:

New space agency wall display.

(Launches will be shown right-to-left. And probably up, to the south.)

  Hide contents

 

It's backwards :-)

 

[Mitchz95]

20 hours ago, Nibb31 said:

I see what you did there.

What did I do there? I meant latitude.

[JakGamingKSP]

The ASA is Australia's first official space agency. Some notes

• They Have a 9.8m USD budget
• The director is Dr Megan Clark AC.

Go on and discuss about it.

[kerbiloid]

 

[JakGamingKSP]

31 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

 

It is from 2017.

[JakGamingKSP]

On 9/26/2017 at 11:05 PM, tater said:

Would they create a launch facility? Australia has a lot of coastal areas that could be useful as launch sites.

Woomera.

On 9/26/2017 at 11:34 PM, TheEpicSquared said:

Yeah, a launch site somewhere in Tasmania or Kangaroo Island (near Adelaide) would be very handy for polar launches. Although I’m pretty sure a launch site would have to be on the south coast of the country, as heading north would fly over Indonesia, The Philippines, Papua, Papua New Guinea... I’m pretty sure that none of those countries would appreciate having a spent rocket dropped on their cities.

Cape york might work

[kerbiloid]

2 minutes ago, JakGamingKSP said:

It is from 2017.

Yes, a prequel.

[James Kerman]

Hello @JakGamingKSP, overlapping threads have been merged. The Ukraine is also looking at building a launch site here in the north:
https://thewest.com.au/technology/space/ukrainian-government-wants-to-send-rockets-into-orbit-from-was-kimberley-ng-b88765608z

[Piscator]

On 9/27/2017 at 10:16 AM, Streetwind said:

https://spaceaustralia.com.au/

The Australian public is very enthusiastic about the proposal... in the typical Aussie manner.  

(DISCLAIMER: not an actual government website)

Sounds like they might be working on a dedicated mission to Uranus . . .