Australia will create its own space agency, with science and industry set to play a key role. 

The new agency, announced by the federal government yesterday, will open the door to the $420 billion aeronautical industry and create thousands of new jobs.

The announcement was made at the opening of 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide.

It follows the government’s decision to conduct a review of the nation's engagement with the space industry.

Education Minister Senator Simon Birmingham, said the structure of the agency, its location and cost would be determined once the review was completed next year.

Senator Birmingham said Australia's decision to establish a national space agency isn't a “man on the moon” exercise but a bid to secure a share of the booming space market.

“Nor will a domestic agency, with a focus on science and business opportunities, be 'another NASA', he said.

“There's a big role for science. There's a big role for industry. We want to make sure Australia's plays its part in both of those.”

Senator Birmingham said the scientific pursuit in space is, in many ways, never-ending.

“But of course the commercial opportunities have expanded dramatically across defence, across communications, across transportation.

“This is very much a private-sector driven undertaking in so many spaces and that is why we want to make sure Australia is at the forefront of seizing those opportunities and creating jobs and investment here.”

Strategic long-term plan

Most developed nations have a space agency, including New Zealand.

Acting Industry Minister Michaelia Cash said the sector was growing fast globally, and Australia needed to be a part of it.

"A national space agency will ensure we have a strategic long-term plan that supports the development and application of space technologies and grows our domestic space industry," she said.

"The agency will be the anchor for our domestic coordination and the front door for our international engagement."

Internationally, the sector has grown by about 10 per cent each year since the late 1990s.

Australia already has significant involvement in national and international space activities, but a dedicated agency will help shape the development of a cohesive space program and provide a stronger platform for international collaboration.

Helping to keep jobs in Australia 

With ever-increasing dependence on satellites for communication and navigation, an Australian space agency could oversee the launch of satellites.

Also, the Australian space agency will help to keep jobs and $3 billion of spending in Australia rather than flowing overseas. 

The announcement was welcomed by Australian academia.

Andrew Dempster (Director, Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research UNSW) said the decision has the potential to be monumental.

“The real opportunity an agency offers is the growth of the local industry to the point where it is sustainable and can deliver big projects,” he said.

Graziella Caprarelli (Associate Professor in space science, UniSA said access to space is crucial to ensure the sustainable growth of the nascent industry.

“This can only happen under the purview of a dedicated Australian agency,” Professor Caprarelli said.

Availability of local talent

“But the long-term sustainability of a space industry in Australia will critically depend on the availability of local talent, steady supply of expertise, and the manufacturing and technical skills required to bring Australia to space.

“This requires strong and continued support for STEM education, investment in space science and technology, research and training. An Australian space agency would therefore be responsible for all space-related activities.”

Duncan Blake, PhD candidate (Law and military uses of outer space, University of Adelaide) said the announcement is exciting not just for Australian space industry, but also for future generations in Australia and for the global space industry.

“Australia rates very highly in space startups per capita: these are not big, multinational companies, but small enterprises making a disproportionate contribution in niche areas.”

Get ready for an Australian astronaut

Andrew Dempster, Director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research  (ACSER) at the University of New South Wales said the announcement has opened the door for a long-held dream for many: a home-grown Australian astronaut.

“Until now, anyone wanting to become an astronaut had the odds stacked against them,” he said.

“They had to become citizens of another country, like the US, and then work hard to get into a space agency like NASA. That won’t be the case any more: in fact, the first home-grown astronaut may only be years away. And he or she has probably been dreaming about this for years.”

Two Australian-born astronauts have flown into space: Paul Scully-Power and Andy Thomas, but both had to become US citizens to do so. Scully-Power, from Sydney, was an oceanographer who flew as a payload specialist in 1984 while working for the US Naval Undersea Warfare Centre; Thomas, from Adelaide, is an aerospace engineer who served as a NASA astronaut on shuttle missions from 1996 to 2005.

An Australian space agency would not only allow Australians to train and fly as astronauts, but more importantly, coordinate national efforts and act as the central contact point for nation-to-nation requests for collaboration in space missions and projects.

“We’re responsible for one-eighth of the world’s surface in meteorology and air traffic control, and we’ve got the second lowest population density in the world, so space is probably more important for Australia than virtually any other country,” said Dempster. “In the civilian sphere, Australia should be number one in space, but we’re just nowhere near that.

Space industry is changing

“The good news is that the nature of the space industry is changing. We’re moving into an era where access to space is cheaper and easier than ever before. We don’t need big, clunky space agencies and giant satellites – we can skip all that and move straight to this more dynamic, disruptive environment. And we're already doing that.”

In April, three Australian satellites – first in 15 years– blasted off from Cape Canaveral and were deployed in May from the International Space Station. Two were built at ACSER: UNSW-EC0 and INSPIRE-2 (the latter a joint project with the University of Sydney and the Australian National University), along with SuSAT, built by the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. 

Each of the ‘cubesats’ is the size of a loaf of bread, weighing less than 2kg, and will carry out the most extensive measurements ever undertaken of the thermosphere, a region between 200 and 380 km above Earth, a poorly-studied zone that is vital for communications and weather formation.

More hardware in space than ever before

ACSER also built space GPS hardware and software for Project Biarri, cubesat mission by Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group that is part of a the Five Eyes defence agreement with Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. The satellite was also launched this year.

“We’ve got more hardware in space today than Australia’s had in its history,” added Dempster, who is also a member of the advisory council of the Space Industry Association of Australia. “This shows what we can do in Australia in the new world of ‘Space 2.0’, where the big expensive agency-driven satellites are being replaced by disruptive low-cost access to space.”

Australia’s space industry is estimated to be worth US$3-4 billion and employs about 11,500 people.

“But we need a space agency to grow this,” said Dempster. “We’ve got only 2% of the global space market, but we should have 4% based on Australia’s proportion of global GDP.

“So there’s a real opportunity there, because we have the skills and there are Australian companies operating in this area, but no national coordination.”