The Rebirth of the Australia Space Agency

The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC), located at Tidbinbilla, just outside Canberra. Credit: Wikipedia.

On July 1st the Australia Space Agency (ASA) started operations. It’s an important milestone for the country as they look to space to help drive economic growth with an eye to tripling their share of the global space market by 2030.

My guests on this weeks SpaceQ podcast are today are Kirby Ikin and Bill Barrett of Sydney based Asia Pacific Aerospace Consultants. Kirby is the Managing Director of APAC while Bill is Senior Vice President. Both have extensive experience working in the industry and have worked with Australia’s government over the years to promote and grow its space industry. Kirby also serves as the Chairman of the Board of the National Space Society.

Both Kirby and Bill provide insights as to how Australia lost it’s space agency in the late 90’s for economic reasons, only to see it rebooted now for economic reasons.

It turns out Australia’s space industry is stronger than even the government realized, and now with bipartisan support, the country is charting a new course to take advantage of Australia’s strengths. That course includes developing a national strategic plan for the country.

Listen to our conversation.

 

 

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About Marc Boucher

Boucher is an entrepreneur, writer, editor & publisher. He is the founder of SpaceQ Media Inc. and CEO and co-founder of SpaceRef Interactive LLC. Boucher has 20+ years working in various roles in the space industry and a total of 30 years as a technology entrepreneur including creating Maple Square, Canada's first internet directory and search engine.

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