Why isn’t Australia in the space race?

[Hans Tucker]

Why indeed.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/india-sent-its-orbiter-to-mars-so-why-isnt-australia-in-the-space-race/story-e6frfrnr-1227073191697

[redbeard]

Cause we still have to work out how to fit an esky into the cockpit without compromising on critical instrumentation space. :lol:

[redbeard]

Besides, you tried flying one of those things in thongs! :rofl:

[mithrandir]

If you look at the projects on which the government will spend money it is obvious.

They can't see a profit in it today. Even it it would be profitable tomorrow that is too far away.

[Stefan Buda]

This is a question that I've been asking for many years...

An amazing book that I highly recommend is Peter Morton's Fire Across the Desert. It will make you sick with anger at the stupidity of our government for giving up all that expertize developed at Woomera.

https://sites.google.com/site/petermortonswebsite/home/woomera-1

[acropolite]

We could easily fund space technology if we stopped subsidies to the mining industry. Some light reading http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/19/mining-tax-its-time-for-all-australians-to-realise-they-are-being-ripped-off and http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-24/mining-industry-receives-billions-of-dollars-in-state-subsidies/5545714

[PeterEde]

Kesteler were going to launch from Woomera back in 2006 or so. Not sure what ever happened to them?
Branson was talking of launching his space plane from Woomera. Don't know what happened to that idea?
Woomera is booked our for military testing for most of the year.
Almost had a job up there fixing range tracking equipment. Missed it by a bee's #$%@

[brian nordstrom]

:lol2: .
Brian.

[el_draco]

And thats the answer to the question :mad2:

[multiweb]

Reliance on the US.

[AstralTraveller]

Money!! Getting into space is expensive. We can't even fund schools and hospitals adequately! Where would we find the money?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-29/a-third-of-top-australian-companies-pay-less-than-10pc-tax/5775870

[multiweb]

Quite true. It costs a bundle.
We might not have the population to sustain the finance of a program.
Maybe mining moguls would help? :question: nah... :lol:

Having said that I was surprised at the amount of aussies involved in the mars rover. Sounds like all the check points and valleys and hills curiosity goes through are named after aussie landmarks. :thumbsup:

[LewisM]

And then there is the obviously "vital" war against terror we have got ourselves all meddled up into AGAIN :scared2:

[cometcatcher]

+1 Lewis.

While it is expensive, politics would be reason no1. If al qaeda or IS had an interest in Mars, we would be there like yesterday to police the solar system.

Until then, someone arrange some funding for Jo. I'm sure he could do it!

[sharpiel]

To much money spent on hating and killing each other and the planet.

[Chris85]

We're on a downward spiral across the whole board, and not just space...
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/australian-government-investment-in-science-reaches-30year-low-20140929-10lbwk.html

[TrevorW]

Same reason we don't have nuclear weapons, other countries don't like the idea, who's being pulling our strings dominating what our pollies do for over 100 years, the UK and US who else. (and that is one of the reasons most of our smart people end up OS working for them)

[Wavytone]

Can't think of any good reason why we should be in the space race - it simply isn't necessary to investigate the behaviour of the bacteria in termites guts nor the sex lives of monkeys in a zero-G environment, for the simple reason they don't live in zero G on earth.

You don't need to fly men to the moon as an excuse to "invent" Teflon, or the insulating tiles on the shuttle.

Spending billions to satisfy a few over-inflated egos doesn't count either.

From an environmental perspective launching "space tourists" into orbit just for fun 'cause they're rich should also be nailed for being a grotesque misuse of resources.

[Nebulator2570]

It all comes down to one simple answer why...

The australian politician and their pension funds after term of office... they just to selfish and ignorant to realise that a country with a billion people on poverty can manage to send a mission to mars on a simple budget..

how small do we look now australia, beaten by a country with poverty..

[TrevorW]

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4088233.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-07/dempster-space-technology/4179922

http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/new-927m-satellite-boosts-defence-network/story-fn5fsgyc-1226693906173

http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4419-7671-0_8

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/10/ten-reasons-why-australia-urgently-needs-a-space-agency/

[clive milne]

Trevor, whilst it is true that our country does the bidding of the US & UK, it is also true that the public face of the governments of these countries are several rungs lower in the hierarchy of control than the interest group that is really directing the course of proceedings more often than not. It is my understanding that the organs of state of the US, UK (and even the Zionists to some extent) are being used as pawns and lightening rods.

This is demonstrable with a guided tour through the historical record.

[JB80]

Why indeed, it would be nice not to be reliant on outdated American tech.
GPS for example, nice to know that the Americans can monitor and effectively cut you off from the system. Useful too seeing as civil infrastructure and the military rely heavily on it.

[CarlJoseph]

I think this is quite a narrow outlook and perspective of the science done in space. Whether it be by humans, animals, or robotics, it does have a huge impact here on earth (beyond Teflon). They don't send up a few monkeys to have sex just because they think it'll be fun.

Research in zero or micro-g provides us with insights we could otherwise not easily obtain on earth. Vacuum chambers provide us with a space-like environment (except they still contain gravity and are shielded from the radiation in space). This space-like environment gave us light bulbs, particle accelerators, electron microscopes, computer chips, etc. Going the extra step to experiment in micro-g provides us with even more.

Take materials science. Research in zero-G or microgravity on the ISS allows us to design new materials and work out ways to combine materials in new ways not easily possible on earth (e.g. http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/1999/msad15sep99_1/)

Then there is research into energy generation. Things like combustion area studied in microgravity to provide insights into more efficient ways to produce energy.

There really is a LOT that goes on up there which isn't often publicised. The economic returns of space science are quite high.

Cheers,
Af.

[JB80]

Very, very true.


http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2674217/Its-UK-aerospace-industry-grows-ten-times-faster-wider-economy.html


And that is just the UK.

Invest in space, science, education and nature and not invest in debt and you will be making money hand over fist.

[cometcatcher]

I think Sir Jo had the right idea. Build a space port at the tip of Cape York. The closer the launch site is to the equator, the less fuel needed to reach orbit, if I remember correctly. That way we could be competitive in the international space market.