Does Australia need a space program?

I would clearly state that we do not need an official space program. This does not mean however that this nation should ignore space related ventures. Rather I feel that Federal and State Governments should open up opportunities for business to develop products and services. The recent history of NASA is a case in point. It is becoming increasingly clear that bureaucracy is not the way to develop and nurture new technology. If government keeps the red tape down and tenders for service open to Australian business then interesting things should happen.

Profit should be a strong driver for the development of space activities. However like many grand endeavors there is a clear association with a less tangible yet more powerful motivation. That of exploration and adventure.

Humans have always sought something grander. This seeking makes the day to day somehow more real. It gives meaning. It catches breath and fills hearts and minds with wonder. Monuments to our own glory, to something greater than the individual. A sense of purpose, of belonging, of place in a grander march. The medieval cathedrals towering above the rude villages must have engendered the same feeling. Crafted by hand, rising up from the very communities that funded and built them, stone by stone with sweat and blood and tears.

Stepping out from under the shadow of the mundane. Seeking glory or vision, giving purpose and place. Such is the purpose of grand endeavor. To learn new things and to profit are but some of the benefits that flow from such struggles. The fruits of hard labour and high ambition as it were.

WRESAT on the launch pad 1967

And what vision, to what grand endeavor do Australians aspire? In these uncertain times perhaps it is time to ask serious questions about looking for such a quest. To launch a national beacon if you will. Involvement in space may well be a body of work worth pursuing and if we bring in a few Russian space engineers plus equipment it may prove to be quite inexpensive as well.

The cost of such endeavors is often raised as an objection. Should resources be directed towards a field that is risky and that does not on the surface benefit the nation? There are two answers to such questions. The first and more practical is that space development has an economic multiplier effect. A dollar spent on space peculates through the economy creating growth and wealth. The second answer is plainly how much is a grand dream worth?

It is clear that are many problems on earth that need fixing. There will always be a relative measure of poverty, there will always be a relative measure of crime and there will always be folk perceived to be disadvantaged by circumstance. However vast resources and limitless clean energy lie above our heads just waiting to be harvested. And as we go about our day to day lives our security and our economy benefit from the use of near orbit resources. Be it a report from a breaking news story in a far flung place or a simple financial transaction, space makes our lives better, today. If we grasp the opportunities think of what we could achieve.

As a nation we have let a lot of opportunities slip by. We should not space go the same way.

Matthew King