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

We're Aussies!

[therufus]

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

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:We're Aussies!

[Klucki]

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to bring that up ;-)

I expect every article that mentions Australia to have a 'Great Firewall of China' joke within 5 minutes...

Re:We're Aussies!

[nschubach]

but informative you are not.

Master Yoda, you are?

Fixed for you, I did.

It needs a clue first

[EdIII]

Maybe it should try to concentrate on getting rid of some of the laws that take away freedoms in that country. Stop trying to filter the Internet into the ground. I dunno, how bout generally pulling it's head out of its ass.

I am speaking to the politicians of course, not the regular people. How can a government be so forward thinking as the people in this article desire it to be, when it so backwards thinking about the rest of it's policies?

Of course, what the hell am I talking about. I live in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave! We have *none* of those same problems.

The only reason NASA exists in my country is because it ALREADY EXISTS. If you have to convince politicians to fund it today, nothing would ever get done. It took a cold war, a charismatic President, and national pride to get our asses into space.

Re:It needs a clue first

[QuantumG]

You're a troll but I'm going to feed you.

I am speaking to the politicians of course, not the regular people.

You fail. The voices of reason that you have been hearing here on Slashdot are the minority. The vast majority of Australians think the Internet needs filtering. They actually like the fact that certain films are banned in Australia. These are the people who had police intervene earlier this year to prevent a Bill Henson exhibition from showing images that were later given a PG rating by the Office of Film and Literature Classification. Had the classification board bowed to public pressure, Henson and the gallery could have been facing criminal charges.

We have exactly the government that we deserve. For those of us who want better, we have to get out there and do something. No-one will do it for us.

Similarly, and to bring this back on-topic, the space activities sponsored by our government are a direct result of the work put in by academics to make the case that it is to the benefit of our country to do so.

Re:It needs a clue first

[aussie_a]

The vast majority of Australians think the Internet needs filtering.

Citation needed. Because as an Australian the only time I hear about internet filtering is here at slashdot. I'd be surprised if the vast majority of Australians know about the government's plans, let alone have an opinion on them.

Re:It needs a clue first

[EdIII]

I'm not a troll, and I don't mean to deliberately offend anyone. My country is just as bad.

I do see many of those laws and policies in Australia as dangerous towards freedoms. They are backwards, shortsighted and stupid. Australia is not alone either. I think there is a "race to the bottom" between the US, UK, and Australia as far as this goes anyways.

Somehow I doubt there are really that many Australians that want to be censored and have their freedoms taken away in exchange for *anything*. If you are really right about that, then yes I guess in this case the government is actually representing the will of the people. You will have to forgive me, I just find that shocking and unusual.

As for the academics making intelligent cases about policies that will actually benefit Australia it might be cynicism that makes me believe that a government so shortsighted and stupid with the rest of its policies could even listen and take action based on rational discourse.

Once again, I am not trolling with those statements. I honestly have no faith left in most governments that they can do the right thing at this point and hearing about Australia trying to take such an ambitious step to benefit it's people just brought out the cynicism in me.

Re:It needs a clue first

[Thanshin]

> Maybe it should try to concentrate on getting rid of some of the laws that take away freedoms in that country. Stop trying to filter the Internet into the ground.

To set up a decent Autralian Great Firewall, you need to put down all those pesky satellites that allow illegal pirate connections.

Thus, the need for a space agency. How else would the autralian government put those intellectual property defending laser equipped sharks in orbit?

Re:It needs a clue first

[EdIII]

Privacy in general is a dying concept. People just don't care about it anymore.

That's just untrue. People don't understand it. Privacy to most people is still quite physical.

If I go to pee in my bathroom can somebody see me? No? Then I have privacy.

Do I have blinds and/or curtains on my windows? Yes? Than I have privacy.

The average person cannot understand, visualize, and basically even begin to comprehend that there is another dimension of reality we have created called cyberspace. That information flows back and forth in this dimension and has very real effects and serious consequences in our real world, "meatspace". This is not hyperbole. It is an absolute fact of our existence right now.

Unless you have experienced it directly, or have a more sophisticated understanding of it, you would have a very hard time understanding the interactions between your personal information in cyberspace and the "real world".

When you do finally explain to this to them, their lack of privacy, and how this lack of privacy can have real negative effects on their lives.... it becomes important to them all of the sudden.

You need to stop perpetuating this myth that people have an informed decision about privacy and still choose to look at is as antiquated and unimportant. I have met VERY few people that actually feel this way and ALL of them have a VERY sophisticated understanding of it and deliberately choose to live in a world with absolutely no privacy and/or anonymity. They make interesting and intelligent arguments about it's function in a higher society.

They are the exception. Most people are just ignorant and think "Privacy" is about protecting their naughty bits.

Re:It needs a clue first

[Andr T.]

Australia is not alone either. I think there is a "race to the bottom" between the US, UK, and Australia as far as this goes anyways.

I live in Brazil and there's a law being discussed to do almost the same thing they are doing in Australia. I might be wrong, but it seems to me there's a general race towards government control of the net (wich has been widely discussed here before).

Re:It needs a clue first

[Anonymous Coward]

It's been seeing a bit of press. Both the ABC and Sydney Morning Herald have had articles. The issue set a record in the ABC's comments section. It was the first time a story with any serious number of comments (100+) had not received a single dissenting comment. Every single commenter was against the filtering proposal. Also see the No Clean Feed website.

Re:It needs a clue first

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the "vast majority" of Australians you refer to is a bit of an overreaction. You're making sweeping generalisations based off of nothing. It's true that there are a lot of conservatives over here, but there are also a lot of die-hard civil rights groups.

In fact, just yesterday, a "Sex Party" has announced that they are running for parliament. I am not kidding. They are focusing on freedoms such as net neutrality, no censorship on the net, more liberal attitudes towards sex and sexuality (including gay marriage) and those sorts of things.

Of course, your assertions about people not caring about censorship are going to be very well tested, now that Senator Fielding has decided he wants all pornography banned by the filter.

They may be able to ban child porn and pro-terrorist sites without much of a fight. Maybe even racial hatred websites. However... things change when you get between millions of men and their (non-child) porn.

I hope Fielding's move proves the decisive error in this campaign and results in the long-overdue nail in the coffin of this festering turd of a bill.

Re:It needs a clue first

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually Kevin Rudd's plan to censor the internet is opposed by 80-90% of Australians the polls that I've seen, it's that unpopular. Rudd is quite conservative/religious and even though most Australian's aren't, the small religious population voted for him and he needs to repay the favour, by targetting porn

Why the religious just leave everyone else the hell alone

Re:It needs a clue first

[Chuck Chunder]

The vast majority of Australians think the Internet needs filtering

Complete bollocks. The vast majority of Australians couldn't give a flying fuck about internet filtering.

A vocal minority might be lobbying for filtering. The government probably knows it's an ineffectual waste of time but has a go anyway so that minority sees it as "doing something".

Re:It needs a clue first

[TapeCutter]

"Because as an Australian the only time I hear about internet filtering is here at slashdot."

I second that, and most of those who have heard of it, will have also heard it all before. Our government has been planning to filter the net on and off since it 's conception. The reason for this is that with proportional voting we often have an independent that can hold the balance of power in either house on a split vote. In this case the senator in question is called Fielding from the "family first" party. KRuddy is buying Fielding's vote to pass funding for bigger fish throgh the senate by throwing money at a system he knows will never be implemented, Howard did the same thing by kissing up to Hanson and the "one nation" party.

It's a quirk of the system that keeps morons busy and occasionally creates the wonderfully democratic irony of people who promote censorship demanding to be heard in parliment. The whole thing is nothing more than a "Yes minister" epsiode that has been repeated so often it's no longer funny.

Re:It needs a clue first

[HJED]

actual the greens and some independents including Fielding have the balance of power in the senate.

The greens are against the bill and all of the sentors not in the oposition would have to suport this

hey aussies!

[cosmocain]

Looking for a way to burn money? I got a different idea...

...i'll contact you with my SWIFT-code.

Truly yours and thanks in advance, cosmocain

Australian Space Research Institute

[femto]

The closest Australia has to a Space Agency is the Australian Space Research Institute. It falls into the category of a serious amateur effort, staffed by volunteers and funded by donations. Underfunded Australian research programs tend to hit above their weight with innovative solutions, simply because they don't have the money to pay for a more conventional solution.

Re:Australian Space Research Institute

[aussie_a]

And yet we have a government paid institution for athletes. Truly our country is fucked up.

I agree, but let's keep it in perspective

[level4]

I could not agree more that AU should establish and fund (well!) a proper space agency. I would fucking LOVE that. Perhaps we could start by redirecting all allocated funding for that ridiculous internet filtering scheme.

But let's keep it in perspective. Australia has 21 million people. We're two thirds the population of California. The other city I spend a lot of time in, Tokyo, has more people than my whole god damn country. I think visitors and foreigners often get a mistaken impression about this country - sure, the cities are fairly large, but there's only fucking FIVE of them. It's a big country - I was born in South Australia, we have a military base there that is BIGGER THAN ENGLAND - but there's no people and kangaroos don't pay tax. Yet.

We're rich enough per capita, sure, but the volume just isn't there. For fuck's sake, we're closing down the entire Navy for 2 months for Christmas. We can't get enough people to staff our fricking marine defences (the most important, since we're an island) - but we're going to build a space industry now? With who?

What I would really like to see is some kind of cooperative effort. Why all this competition between nations, duplicated effort, and misplaced nationalism? We'd get so much more done if we pooled our resources and really worked together. And I don't mean in the manner of sclerotic, ineffective jaw-fests like the UN, I mean cooperate like allies in a war, which we're all pretty good at.

We need a war, then. A War on Not Being In Space! Come on, you apes! Do you want to live forever?

Re:I agree, but let's keep it in perspective

[Barny]

For a country that still thinks "primary production" being their main industry is a good thing, I think we would be shooting ourselves economically in the foot.

We are a country whose children are taught that sport is the be-all and end-all of their education, there are a few good universities for the hard sciences, sure, but we have a nationally funded Institute of Sport, a mecca for a generation of kids who spend 3.9 years waiting for the next Olympics to start, so they can see their hero...

Re:I agree, but let's keep it in perspective

[LordLucless]

there are a few good universities for the hard sciences, sure, but we have a nationally funded Institute of Sport

Which is probably a good thing. The Americans don't, and it appears that all their colleges sell out academics in the name of sport. Why on earth do you get a scholarship for your sporting ability?

Re:I agree, but let's keep it in perspective

[Lumpy]

"For fuck's sake, we're closing down the entire Navy for 2 months for Christmas. We can't get enough people to staff our fricking marine defences (the most important, since we're an island) - but we're going to build a space industry now? With who?"

So what do you guys do?

Post a sign stating, "dont attack, gone on holiday."

Re:I heard we had a fledgling agency in the 50's .

[thermian]

... until the US and the Brits told us "not to worry about it", and that was the end of that ...

Well it was more that the UK was reluctant to spend too much money on their space program, even though they actually got Blue Streak rocket working as a space delivery system, which they launched from Woomera, Australia, which would have got all the business that Arianne now has.

Since the Australian governments space program at the time was tied to the UK effort (they wanted to have their very own space port which other countries would use, primarily the UK), and they had no native spacecraft research program, that killed the Australian effort, regardless of what the Australian government wanted.

On the other hand Australia has been and remains a critically important part of the NASA space exploration program through its radio telescopes. In fact it was they who captured the footage of Neil Armstrong stepping on to the Moon for the first time.

First Aussie on the Moon

[bazorg]

"a small step for a man... Crikey! look at the size of that beauty!"

The UK govn was very short sighted

[Viol8]

I can't remember the exact quote but I think the government at the time saw no future in satellite comms. Another triumph for arts educated politicians with all the technical insight of Mr Bean and the foresight of a comatose goldfish.

Re:Obligatory comparison to Canada.

[level4]

/Users/level4/projects/slashdot-reply/language/lib/parse_local_slang.rb:34: syntax error, unexpected 'eh', expecting 'mate'
     Crikey, a project like the Canadarm would be cool, eh?
                                                        ^
    from /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `require'
    from ./slashdot-reply.rb:46:in `discern_nationality_from_linguistic_traits'
    from ./slashdot-reply.rb:46:in `each'
    from ./slashdot-reply.rb:54:in `process_speech'
    from /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `gem_original_require'
    from /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `require'
    from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:253:in `load_modules'
    from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:251:in `each'
    from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:251:in `load_modules'
    from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb/init.rb:21:in `setup'
    from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/irb.rb:54:in `start'
    from /usr/bin/irb:13

But at what cost?

[PinkyDead]

Even after they put all that money into a lunar mission, Australia still has a better cricket team.

Space Industry

[Davemania]

Australia needs to expand its high tech industry. Currently we don't have the a internationally competitive aerospace or high-tech industry to support a space program and that's one our big problems. The majority of Australian export are primary goods that is eventually made into something that is sold at significant higher price than what we export because Australia doesn't have a significant industry that can manufacture the goods. I think a major into space industry with home grown technology will do more good than just putting satellites into space and this requires major investment not just at the space program.

Re:Space Industry

[Whiteox]

Sure. I'm with you, but I'm very pessimistic about getting our act together and actually doing it.
90% of our highly trained tech/science/computer grads and other highly skilled, get snapped up overseas.
Who's going to do it? Sounds like a promise that's hard to keep. I hope I'm proved wrong though.

NASA?

[Whiteox]

Hey! Maybe they can call it the National Australian Space Agency! That'll be real confusing.

Coordinated effort

[phorm]

Maybe they can cooperate with other countries? In a various cases some of the countries mentioned are rather crowded and lacking in the land for such things. Seems that far out in the remote outback deserts of Australia would be a really *good* location for a launchpad or something of the like. No people, not necessarily a lot of wildlife, but still fairly accessible by air, etc.