In the News

A shot at the Moon
By Tory Shepherd, 12 March 2021
The idea of shooting for the moon started with US President John F Kennedy, as NASA grew, the Cold War got chillier and the Apollo missions beckoned. Australia played a critical (if bit) role in the 1969 Moon landing, and had its own space success around that time through satellite launches from Woomera, South Australia. Now, it has a chance at its own moonshot. Bolstered by the recent creation of the Australian Space Agency, private industry and academic prowess are carving out a niche in the Artemis program, which aims to put the first woman and the next man on the Moon in 2024.

Australians are making gourmet space food and space ibuprofen, helping space clocks synchronise, and working out how to sustainably mine the Moon and Mars and set up human colonies. Read this excerpt from the feature article “A shot at the moon”, which appears in the latest issue of Cosmos magazine. ON SALE NOW.

UWA launches International Space Centre
By Charbel Kadib,29 January 2021
The International Space Centre was officially launched at the University of Western Australia (UWA) on Thursday (28 January) at a ceremony attended by federal Minister for Defence Linda Reynolds and WA Minister for Science Dave Kelly.

Through the new centre, UWA aims to combine space science, research and teaching capabilities to advance the development of new technologies that enhance and sustain life on Earth and beyond. Among the research activities conducted at the centre will be the study of gravity and space on human physiology and plant biology to support space exploration and life on other planets.

To Mars and beyond: Why 2021 could be a huge year for space
By Christian Davenport, December 31, 2020
We all know that 2020 was a no-good, horrible, fearful, tumultuous year that will be remembered for the coronavirus pandemic and a polarising US election. But for space enthusiasts, it was actually quite a good year, providing bits of promising news amid the bleak headlines of disease, economic hardship and protests.

The rising moon, framed by Christmas lights in southern Missouri in the US on November 30. CREDIT: AP

World’s space achievements provide hope and glory during a stressful 2020
By Marcia Dunn, December 25, 2020
Cape Canaveral: Astronauts blasted into orbit from the US for the first time in nearly a decade, three countries sent spacecraft hurtling toward Mars, and robotic explorers grabbed rocks from the moon and gravel from an asteroid for return to Earth. Space provided moments of hope and glory in an otherwise difficult, stressful year. It promises to do the same in 2021, with February’s landings at Mars and next northern fall’s planned launch of the Hubble Space Telescope’s successor — the next-generation James Webb Space Telescope.

Crowds on the beach in Cape Canaveral, Florida watch the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Crew Dragon on its Crew-1 mission carrying four astronauts, Sunday, November 15.CREDIT: AP

As NASA prepares to send humans back to the moon and beyond, Mark Shelhamer and fellow Hopkins scientists work to ensure that future space travelers survive and thrive out there – Johns Hopkins Magazine, (Laura Wexler, Summer 2019)

October/November 2019
The Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF), a South Australian advanced manufacturing hub specialising in microfluidic sensors, has partnered with NASA to help Australian researchers develop develop health assessment tools for space travellers – sensors to monitor health through the testing of bodily fluids such as sweat and saliva.
Read more at: https://unisa.edu.au/unisanews/2019/november/story1/ and http://theleadsouthaustralia.com.au/industries/space/aussie-researchers-to-help-nasa-monitor-health-in-space/