Local businesses, students and families are being encouraged to “think big” and benefit from a renewed interest in space exploration and technology.
The Morrison Government is positioning Australia for lift-off with a $150 million investment into businesses and new technologies that will support NASA on its inspirational campaign to return to the Moon and travel to Mars.
The five year investment will see the Australian Space Agency foster the new ideas and hi-tech skilled jobs that will make Australian businesses a partner of choice to fit out NASA missions.
“The investment is all about jobs here in Australia – it’s part of our plan to triple the size of Australia’s space sector and create 20,000 new jobs,” Senator Scarr said.
“That means expansion opportunities for our tech businesses, and it means career opportunities for our young people. We all know that STEM study is so important as we compete in a tech-driven, global economy.”
“I hope this new funding for space technology fires the imaginations of our local young people and gets them more engaged with very real careers paths in the sector.”
Senator Scarr said the new funding would support Australian businesses to become more competitive in international space supply chains and to increase Australia’s share in a growing US$350 billion global space market.
“Australian businesses and researchers will have the opportunity to showcase their immense knowledge and capabilities in projects that can support NASA’s Moon to Mars mission, such as Project Artemis and the Lunar Gateway.”
“Here in Queensland we already have a number of exciting projects underway including:
- Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and NASA are collaborating through the Planetary Instrument for X-Ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) flight project, as part of the Mars 2020 rover mission, which will search for past life on Mars. PIXL Principal Investigator, Mars 2020 Rover Mission at NASA JPL, Abigail Allwood, is the first female and first Australian principal investigator on a NASA Mars mission.
• Investment in robotics and virtual reality, including Boeing’s VR training facility; $29 million over 7 years for Australian Centre for Robotic Vision.
• Gilmour Space Technologies is developing low-cost launch vehicles to put small to medium sized satellites into low earth orbit, and has secured $19 million in funding from CSIRO’s Innovation Fund managed by Main Sequence Ventures, and Blackbird Ventures.
• CSIRO’s Data61, Robotics Innovation Centre in Queensland has been purpose-built to facilitate world-leading robotics research across industries of strategic importance to Australia and the world, such as manufacturing, agriculture, mining, biosecurity and biodiversity.
• Ozius is a Brisbane-based company that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyses satellite earth observation data for use by agriculture, forestry, government, research, resource, infrastructure and finance markets. For example, farmers can use Ozius products to monitor plant health and crop indicators to help make decisions on how to manage water, fertiliser and other resources. The Logan City Council and Parsons Brinckerhoff use Ozius products for urban planning and costing.
• Geoscience Australia investment in Queensland includes $16 million over the forward estimates for GNSS Ground Station Infrastructure.
Senator Scarr said the new missions would undoubtedly result in new technologies and benefits with much wider applications.
“Today space technologies boost a variety of industries including our farmers who use space capabilities to monitor the health of their crops and the location of their stock. Emergency workers use it to track bushfires and scientists to study the effects and impact of droughts.”
“The Apollo mission resulted in many spin-off benefits for humankind including kidney dialysis, more advanced computing and food preparation technologies.”
“The quest for scientific advancement and exploration always yields dividends and I encourage local young people in particular to engage in the opportunities this exciting sector brings.”
