Why Australia needs a space agency and how it could generate not only new jobs but new industries
This article is a change of tune and is more aligned to my passions surrounding everything about space and educational outreach, especially astronomy. But my reason for writing this stems from the huge economic and societal benefit that many countries receive from having their own space agency.
Recently our Kiwi neighbours from the company Rocket Lab successfully launched their own rocket, the Electron, into orbit whilst launching three little cubesats as part of their progressive testing towards a flight ready rocket that can be used for commercial purposes along with supporting NASA. The rocket itself is quite cool. It uses a mix of battery technology and a high grade mix of kerosene and liquid oxygen. It’s also 3D printed. Perhaps one day we may even see launch craft that operate off batteries alone? These New Zealand launches can be for satellites that want to travel in an east to west direction or via a polar orbit travelling south to north. They launch from the North Island and the rocket itself is about 17 meters tall. That’s a difference compared to SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets that are approximately 55 meters tall.
Pretty cool but where are the incentives? And how could Australia benefit from something similar to our neighbors? Well there are a number of ways to answer that. There are short term benefits and there are also long term benefits.
From a short term perspective, this is an immediate job creator. There are employment opportunities for constructing the rocket as well as manufacturing, testing and launch facilities. There are also side job opportunities for any commercial businesses that are in proximity to these new facilities. I’ve used an infographic from Canada’s look into the positive impacts from a space sector to show that a comparable country has had some real success.
From another short to long term perspective, it gives Australian’s young and old something to be inspired by. As a country, we used to be known for being at the forefront of modern technologies and our science organisations such as the CSIRO was definitely an ambassador to that. We have produced wonderful innovative products from WiFi to the Cochlear Ear implant to technology that was most recently used to detect gravity waves. Thanks to our Parkes Observatory (below pictured) we were a major part of the Apollo mission to the moon!
But what modern Australia needs now desperately than ever is a huge feat in science and people power. We need a symbol. Something that binds us together towards a common goal and one that attracts the best parts of Australia working towards it. Our space agency is that symbol.
From a medium to long term perspective our ability to put launches into space would compete with many nations of the world. The reason is we have a number of locations in Australia that have quite dry, stable climates. Having this is an advantage as presently many delays are often due to weather.
To add to this, having a space agency requires also having a number of facilities, such as manufacturing to support it. Just having these areas alone gives people the opportunity to learn and grow in these fields to the point where they may either start their own ventures in space or use the knowledge to benefit other industries such as cars and aircraft. Essentially in a nutshell, a space agency creates spinoffs that help our economy grow and they themselves lead to more jobs.
It’s also becoming progressively cheaper to put things in orbit. SpaceX, the poster child of modern space rocketry, believes that it can bring down the price of launches to $200,000. It reconciles this through reusing boosters by perfectly and safely landing back at base or on a robotic barge. That is quite the considerable change where launches were in the realm of $1 billion only 5 years ago, which has presently reached approximately $83 million for SpaceX. In Rocket Lab’s case, the expected initial cost is down to as little as $5 million for launches. There is a shift here and it means that with new technologies, such as 3D printing, the cost to set up an agency and manufacture has been drastically reduced.
The time for Australia to move to a space agency is now. It is clearly a very profitable, economy building industry that inspires minds, both young and old to look beyond and take our country to the stars.
