Australian Space Agency?

[CameronD]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-13/space-agency-on-the-cards-as-australia-announces-review/8703740

Australia could soon have its own space agency, with the Government today announcing a review into Australia's space capabilities. Most developed nations have a space agency, including New Zealand, after it announced one last year.
....
With ever-increasing dependence on satellites for communication and navigation, an Australian space agency could oversee the launch of satellites. But, initially, an Australian space agency's main role would be to help keep jobs and $3 billion of spending in Australia rather than flowing overseas
.....
An expert panel, chaired by former CSIRO boss Dr Megan Clark will lead the review. It will report by the end of March next year.

EDIT:  Also http://www.skynews.com.au/news/top-stories/2017/07/13/sinodinos-announces-space-policy-review.html

[Khadgars]

But, initially, an Australian space agency's main role would be to help keep jobs and $3 billion of spending in Australia rather than flowing overseas

Lets see if they get the same criticism for being a "jobs program" that NASA does if this does come to fruition.

In any case, I hope they do create it.

[SweetWater]

Has there ever been any talk about siting a spaceport in Australia? The northern portion of Queensland is only about 10 degrees south of the equator, with fairly open ocean to the east until you reach South America. It seems like it would be a very well-suited launch site for low-inclination orbits and for flights to GEO (for comparison's sake, the Guiana Space Centre is at about 5 degrees north of the equator, Kennedy 28, and Baikonur 45).

I know that the Black Knight rocket was tested by the UK at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia back in the 1950s and 1960s; however, I'm unaware of any other rockets of that class or proposals that would launch from Australia.

[JH]

9 or 10 Spartas launched from there. I think they were based on the Redstone.

[CameronD]

Has there ever been any talk about siting a spaceport in Australia? The northern portion of Queensland is only about 10 degrees south of the equator .....

Yep there's been a bit here over the years, not limited to the following:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35349.0
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35413.0

In a nutshell, to minimise the effect of population and politics you're left with somewhere near Darwin
http://projectthunderstruck.org/spaceport-darwin-proposal/
or negotiating with Defence for the use of Woomera (good luck with that!)

I know that the Black Knight rocket was tested by the UK at the Woomera Test Range in South Australia back in the 1950s and 1960s; however, I'm unaware of any other rockets of that class or proposals that would launch from Australia.

Amongst others, there have been a few sounding rocket launches from Woomera in recent times (eg. UQ's HyShot).  Moving from research to commercial, something smallish like RocketLab's Electron would probably work. ...and there's more than one University I know of that would love to fly Cubesat or Smallsat payloads if the cost and opportunity was there. 
 

[Steven Pietrobon]

There have been many proposals for an Australian spaceport, including one for ESA back in the late 1970s for launching Ariane. Unfortunately, none of these proposals made it off the drawing board.

There has been a big push from the space industry and various space organisations here in Australia, lobbying the Australian government for an Australian space agency. Attached is a White Paper from the Space Industry Association of Australia supporting this.

I'm not sure if this review is a good sign. The government had a chance to announce a space agency at the last budget, but did not do so despite all the lobbying. This review will not be completed until March next year, which means the government will probably not make a space agency announcement at the IAC here in September since the review has not been completed. This means we'll probably have to wait until June next year at the next budget to see if the government announces a space agency.

[TrevorMonty]

Central Australia would be idea for operating New Shepard suborbital flights.

[CameronD]

Central Australia would be idea for operating New Shepard suborbital flights.

Ignoring the challenges of discussing rocket launch with the locals (Defence, that is) and that fact that it's a desert in all respects, Central Australia is ideal for a lot of things.. it's just most folks (even those who live here) have no concept of how far away from anything it really is and hence how difficult it is to get there - and stay there.

[calapine]

There have been calls for Australia to join ESA, it would be nice if that came to fruition once "ASA" comes into existence.

Example:

In the last 40 years, Australia has turned down invitations to join the European Space Agency no fewer than four times.

But last week it emerged that the offer is back on the table, and the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Arthur Sinodinos, has confirmed his office is looking into it.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/could-australia-join-the-european-space-agency/8441666

[brickmack]

With Canada already being a sort-of member too, might be time for ESA to rebrand itself if Australia did hypothetically join up.

[CameronD]

There have been calls for Australia to join ESA, it would be nice if that came to fruition once "ASA" comes into existence.

There are already 'strong ties' between Australian researchers (universities and a couple of research organisations) and the ESA.. but, AIUI, joining the ESA won't stop the brain drain, nor will it provide launch infrastructure on Australian soil.

C'mon.. we're half a world away.
 

[Steven Pietrobon]

Here's the South Australian government's take on this review.

News releases - Martin Hamilton-Smith
SA prepared to go it alone on space
Martin Hamilton-Smith July 13, 2017

The South Australian Government will push ahead with plans for a local industry node of a future Australian Space Agency after yet more inaction by the Federal Government.

https://www.premier.sa.gov.au/index.php/martin-hamilton-smith-news-releases/7769-sa-prepared-to-go-it-alone-on-space

[calapine]

There are already 'strong ties' between Australian researchers (universities and a couple of research organisations) and the ESA.. but, AIUI, joining the ESA won't stop the brain drain, nor will it provide launch infrastructure on Australian soil.

C'mon.. we're half a world away.

Here the much-complained-about Georeturn would kick in. What Australia spends would come back in form of contracts for local companies, thus providing high tech jobs.

Due to it's location Australia would be an important partner for tracking stations as well.

[CameronD]

Here's the South Australian government's take on this review.

News releases - Martin Hamilton-Smith
SA prepared to go it alone on space
Martin Hamilton-Smith July 13, 2017

The South Australian Government will push ahead with plans for a local industry node of a future Australian Space Agency after yet more inaction by the Federal Government.

https://www.premier.sa.gov.au/index.php/martin-hamilton-smith-news-releases/7769-sa-prepared-to-go-it-alone-on-space

Well, good on 'em I say!!

I'm glad to hear SA are taking the initiative and running with this.. hopefully that'll make the pollies in Canberra at least listen for a change.  It will be interesting to watch this one pan out.

[elist]

There have been calls for Australia to join ESA, it would be nice if that came to fruition once "ASA" comes into existence.

There are already 'strong ties' between Australian researchers (universities and a couple of research organisations) and the ESA.. but, AIUI, joining the ESA won't stop the brain drain, nor will it provide launch infrastructure on Australian soil.

C'mon.. we're half a world away.

With the delays in Kourou earlier this year, ESA might find Oz a welcome latitude for a future launch site to hedge against future local unrest.

I also wonder if it would mean shorter shipping times for Euro-Soyuz.

[ringsider]

Central Australia would be idea for operating New Shepard suborbital flights.

Ignoring the challenges of discussing rocket launch with the locals (Defence, that is) and that fact that it's a desert in all respects, Central Australia is ideal for a lot of things.. it's just most folks (even those who live here) have no concept of how far away from anything it really is and hence how difficult it is to get there - and stay there.

This is so true. When you leave Sydney for Singapore you fly over desert for about 4-5 hours before reaching the ocean again. I don't think people realize the scale and incredible challenges of operating in the Nullarbor.

[CameronD]

Central Australia would be idea for operating New Shepard suborbital flights.

Ignoring the challenges of discussing rocket launch with the locals (Defence, that is) and that fact that it's a desert in all respects, Central Australia is ideal for a lot of things.. it's just most folks (even those who live here) have no concept of how far away from anything it really is and hence how difficult it is to get there - and stay there.

This is so true. When you leave Sydney for Singapore you fly over desert for about 4-5 hours before reaching the ocean again. I don't think people realize the scale and incredible challenges of operating in the Nullarbor.

Sydney-Singapore flights don't really cross the desert.. but Adelaide-Singapore do.  Compared to Woomera, Mojave is positively civilised! 

[Tywin]

I'm think so, is the moment for Australian has a Space Agency, and would be great, if they collaborate with the ESA...

And they has already and interesting rocket company, for create a indigenous launcher:

https://www.gspacetech.com/

[TomH]

NPR article: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/26/553713207/australia-says-it-is-launching-its-own-space-agency

[CameronD]

NPR article: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/26/553713207/australia-says-it-is-launching-its-own-space-agency

Thanks for reviving this thread.. I'd forgotten I started it!!  It seems 3 months is a long time around here.

There's been quite a bit of discussion on this on the IAC2017 threads, especially here:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43814.0
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43759.0

The mods may decide to merge a few of the other posts here once the IAC2017 dust settles, but for now, we'll just wait and see.