Patrick Durrant | Sydney
Australian/American retired NASA astronaut Andy Thomas has written to Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne to push for “strategic investments” in space and the formation of a national space agency.
Thomas, who hails from Adelaide and served as a NASA astronaut for 23 years and flew on four space shuttle flights, was “staggered” Australia was presently accessing only one per cent of a $US350 billion industry.
“Without [it] Australia is doomed to be forever dependent on other nations for its space-related security”
“We are missing out on a rich opportunity for innovation, employment and accessing potential export markets,” he wrote.
Thomas cited transformational and disruptive changes, such as the commercialisation of launch services and the exploitation of electronic miniaturisation, as reasons to make strategic investments that could potentially lead to thousands of jobs.
“And I am unashamedly pro South Australia in this since it meshes and overlaps so well with existing local defence industries, especially undertakings such as the submarine build.”
According to Thomas, working with other international space agencies was critical, in order to take advantage of the work already done, but he stressed in order to “play in their arena in terms those countries understand” it meant having a recognised space agency.
“Without that Australia is doomed to be forever dependent on other nations for its space-related security, its spacerelated economy, its space-related defence and its space-related environmental assessments.”
Thomas put paid to “counter-arguments [Pyne] may be hearing” that existing space activities are too small to justify establishing an agency.
“To those who press that point of view, I would say existing space activities will forever remain small and we will never get our share of the space market just because we don't have a national agency.”
The issue is gaining traction in Australia with Adelaide to host the forthcoming International Astronautical Conference in September this year and the Australian Space Industry having produced a White Paper recently on the subject. French Space Agency Chief Jean-Yves Le Gall also called for action on a national space agency during his recent visit.