A new horizon: Australia in the global space race
“Inspired by the great prospects opening up before mankind as a result of man’s entry into outer space, …”
From 1 July 2018 Australia will have its own national space agency, the ASA, with seed funding of $41 million in the first four years and further potential investment through a Space Industry Development Fund and major, national space-related projects on a quadrennial basis.
Australia has been deeply involved in space research from the dawn of the space age, even before Sputnik 1 was launched, especially at the Weapons Research Establishment at Woomera. Australia has also previously had a space agency, the Australian Space Office (ASO), and a National Space Program (NSP), from 1987 to 1996.
Current circumstances are fundamentally different to those 22 years ago when the ASO and NSP were terminated. There are strong reasons for optimism about the success of a new ASA and national strategy for civil space, not least of which is that the current resurgence of the Australian space industry is largely commercially-driven and by home-grown innovation and enterprise.
The Clark Report set a target of at least tripling the contribution of the Australian space industry to the economy by 2030, to $12 billion, a compound annual growth rate of 8% over the period, which may seem ambitious, but which is modest compared to a compound annual growth rate for the global space economy of over 9.5% over a period of more than 15 years, and which would not necessarily bring Australia up to a proportionate share of the global space economy.
The current resurgence of the Australian space industry is largely commercially-driven and by home-grown innovation.
As a publicly funded, governed and staffed organisation, though, the agency will need to represent the interests and prospects of the Australian population broadly and not just the commercial interests of Australian space enterprises, in spite of their great prospects.
This article examines the reasons why now is the right time to re-establish a national space program, previews some of the policy and legal challenges that an ASA must confront in balancing its priorities, and suggests some critical commercial and strategic opportunities for Australia, provided that Australia, through the ASA, is prepared to take on a proactive, global role in space law and policy to address the challenges.
1 Having a ‘horse’ in the space race
The global space industry is estimated at around USD329 billion annually and is expected to grow to between USD1.1 trillion in
