Space science and industry unite – September 2019

Australia’s first joint conference for space science and space industry was held in Adelaide this week, bringing together the 8th Space Forum (formerly the South Australia Space Forum) and the 19th Australian Space Research Conference.

Being the big annual meeting for the Australian space research community, naturally CSIRO was there – among nearly 1000 other space industry leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers and educators. There was a lot of interest in the Prime Minister’s recent announcement of $150m for Australian industry and research to work with NASA around returning to the Moon and on to Mars.

Amy Parker from the Centre spoke on remote sensing with NovaSAR-1. Other topics given by CSIRO speakers included the Space Technology Future Science Platform, the current and future capabilities of the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex, and the feasibility study into a cubesat for Mars. It is amazing how the conferences united here have grown over the last few years and it is a great reflection of Australia’s, and CSIRO’s, increasing role in space.