It's Official, Australia Needs a Space Agency

Dante_J writes "In the final report published by the Australian Senate inquiry into 'The Current State of Australia's Space Science & Industry Sector' entitled 'Lost in Space? Setting a new direction for Australia's space science and industry sector,' it calls for the formation of a 'Space Industry Advisory Council' to oversee the creation of a fully-fledged Australian Space Agency. Of the top 20 GDP nations, Australia is the only one without a Space Agency, which impacts on many aspects of ordinary life, not to mention Research and Engineering endeavors. Every satellite operated by Australia is owned by another party and the costs of this alone are comparable to that of a Space Agency. The report is a tidy piece that drew upon submissions form Andy Thomas, and an impressive collection of Australian Academics and Space Science entities frustrated by successive generations of government apathy. While this report is welcome, lethargic Government action in a climate of competing concerns is not expected to stem the flow of Space Science brain drain out of Australia any time soon."

Comments

Re:We're Aussies!

[Andr T.]

Australia is the only one without a Space Agency, which impacts on many aspects of ordinary life,

So, how does the lack of a Space Agency impact your cricket matches?

Re:We're Aussies!

[therufus]

Well there are those satellites up there that bounce the pictures to the TV right? They're in 'space'.

Now someone get me another beer!

Re:We're Aussies!

[Naughty Bob]

Can't be stuffed with that space stuff. 'slong as the cricket's on anyway ;)

Yeah, um, have you seen that India has a killer space program? Just mentioning....

Re:We're Aussies!

[Andr T.]

but informative you are not.

Is that you, master Yoda?

Re:We're Aussies!

[davester666]

It's really just a grassroots effort to develop a method to send the politician's who came up with the idea for their 'net' filter into space...

Re:Obligatory comparison to Canada.

[level4]

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     Crikey, a project like the Canadarm would be cool, eh?
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