Australian Space Agency start-up

[julianh72 (Julian)]

"After announcing plans for a national space agency in September, the Federal Government will put its money where its mouth is.

On Tuesday, it will commit $50 million of seed funding in this year's budget to establish the Australian space agency."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2...-thing/9722860

$50 million probably won't get us to the Moon or Mars, but I guess it's a start!

[glend (Glen)]

They will probably blow that much and more on consultants, and bureaucrats to run it.

[el_draco (Rom)]

Its just restarting what we already had... 50 years wasted!

[LewisM]

$50mil on consultants and stationary. Ooops.

[Wavytone]

$50 mill will fund 2 ex-DSTO guys in a shed somewhere out the back of Adelaide for about 4 years.

Not enough to fund any hardware beyond a cubeSat to piggyback on someone else's rocket.

[SimmoW (SIMON)]

Desks, office Fitout and 20 chrome notebooks. Gawd...

[LostInSp_ce]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

$50 mill will fund 2 ex-DSTO guys in a shed somewhere out the back of Adelaide for about 4 years.

Not enough to fund any hardware beyond a cubeSat to piggyback on someone else's rocket.

I was so excited when I heard the news and was so disappointed when I heard the figure. It's almost insulting.

[LewisM]

Yup, totally insulting.

How about we drop buying the POS F-35 (that is NOT stealthy, is NOT non-detectable, is NOT reliable) and actually invest in progressing humanity instead of arming humanity to destroy other humans.

Now that would be progress. Nope, we need to buy more Yank crap so we can maintain being one of the CIA's vassals...

[multiweb (Marc)]

Well, still one small step in the right direction regardless. Gotta start somewhere and get behind it rather than bagging it with stupid t-shirts. Just sayin'.

[AndyG (Andy)]

Ok, if we're playing the fortune telling game:

Aust Space Agency:
- A half dozen or so adjunct appointments of existing University lecturers in Astro related fields. For a small fee, their work/expertise is collated under this new organsiation.
- A token permanent expert flown in from overseas. This could be the showpony who provides the celebrity factor. They work from home, when not traveling. We see him/her on Catalyst (or whatever ABC science show) every week.
- A manager on 12 month contract, in a serviced Govt office (probably sharing a floor with Centrelink in Canberra).
- Some sort of assistant on a shared-wage scheme/scholarship with another Govt training/skills department.

The last 3 individuals listed is easy to calculate. The Adjuncts' cost is where the black hole will be found.

Originally Posted by multiweb

Well, still one small step in the right direction regardless. Gotta start somewhere and get behind it rather than bagging it with stupid t-shirts. Just sayin'.

Objectively, the best answer in this thread. Definately better than my dribble.

[Sparksinspace (Steve)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Well, still one small step in the right direction regardless. Gotta start somewhere and get behind it rather than bagging it with stupid t-shirts. Just sayin'.

all for it but unless it is in conjunction with some other government or private interest it will go nowhere. also they will have to define exactly what they want to achieve and have some relevance to the masses.