NASA facing ‘existential’ threat
On show at IAC was the “Roo-ver” Australian-made moon rover, which looks a little like a microwave on wheels. It will head to the moon by the end of this decade to search for water, an objective aligned with NASA’s current push to return to the lunar surface – the Artemis missions.
The rover symbolises both the evolution of the Australian space industry and its reliance on the US as our major partner in space, at a time when NASA is staring down existential chaos under President Donald Trump.
A model of the Australian “Roo-ver” lunar rover on show at the International Astronautical Congress in Sydney.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
Just this week Bill Nye (America’s answer to Dr Karl) called on congress to push back against “extinction-level” budget cuts to NASA proposed by Trump, who has flagged a 24 per cent slash to the space agency. About US$6 billion would be torn out of the agency’s planetary science and astrophysics programs, with satellites that monitor the ozone layer, bushfires and damaging coronal mass ejections (plasma bursts from the sun) at risk.
Trump acolyte Sean Duffy, the US transport secretary and acting NASA Administrator, said in an IAC address in Sydney that he didn’t want NASA to “burn up” resources on climate and sustainability at the cost of human space exploration.
That perhaps reflects the pressure of an intensifying rivalry between the US, China and Russia to colonise the moon, which will serve as humanity’s gateway to Mars and the rest of the cosmos.
An artist’s impression of two NASA astronauts working on the moon. Will China beat them to it?Credit: NASA
Experts have cast doubt on the ability of Elon Musk’s SpaceX – contracted by NASA to build the US’s moon landing vehicle – to pull off the delivery of astronauts on the moon by 2030, partly because the mission relies on a refuelling operation in low-earth orbit never before achieved. A number of former NASA executives have warned congress China is now the frontrunner in the Space Race 2.0.
But a relentless focus on space exploration at the cost of science programs risks undermining the whole point of reaching for the stars: to make life better on Earth. The promise of space and its potential as a scientific cornucopia only applies if space-bound technologies find their way back to our home planet.
Australia is good at this kind of thinking. A NSW-built spiderlike robot built to 3D-print lunar shelters out of moon dust could fast-track house construction on Earth, for example. And Melbourne company Lunaria One’s mission to grow plants on the moon could reveal new ways to grow crops on farmland made harsher by climate change.
The US scaling back its priorities to focus on direct space exploration is yet another signal Australia needs to improve its independence in the space race – and help ensure humanity’s quest to conquer the cosmos doesn’t lose its focus on Earth.
The spider-shaped lunar construction robot “Charlotte” could one day fast-track the building of homes on Earth.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
The new rocket-launch mission centre on wheels
The partnership between Australia and the US was strengthened through the signing of a framework agreement at the AIC to expand cooperation in space, allaying some of the industry’s concern that Trump’s NASA cuts could have a knock-on effect here.
But Australia also diversified its allies during the congress by signing a major agreement with the European Space Agency, which helps guard against any “unexpected scenarios with the US”, chief executive of the Space Industry Association of Australia Dan Lloyd says.
It’s his view Australia needs to capitalise more on its clear skies and low population density to become the Southern Hemisphere hub for rocket launches.
“Australia has a starting position that should give it an unbelievably disproportionate share of the global launch market,” he says. “China is scaling up its launch capacity. Russia has a very high cadence launch capacity. Yet Australia has done very few launches.”
Inside a new CSIRO mobile mission control centre, a converted b-double trailer containing a suite of computers that can support rocket launches.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
To help change that, a new rocket-launch support pad on wheels rolled off the factory floor two weeks ago. The CSIRO’s Mobile Operations Centre is a converted b-double trailer fitted out with dozens of screens and vibration-proof satellite servers.
Built to serve as a roving mission support centre for space operations and as an educational tool that can visit schools, it’s part launch pad, part Healthy Harold van, designed to drive public interest in space while getting more Australian launches off the ground.
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Lloyd is hoping that increasing attention on Australia’s part in the race back to the moon will lead to the government building an overarching strategy for space, reaping the technological benefits in security, communications, science and disaster monitoring. The US, the UK, Japan, India and New Zealand all have national space plans, but not us.
“For many people in our government, space seems like a bit of an imaginary, fanciful science fiction concept,” he says. “But there’s a huge opportunity for Australia that we can’t let slip away.”
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