Adelaide will be location of Australian Space Agency

By Australian Geographic December 12, 2018
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Construction of the Australian Space Agency will begin in 2019.

TODAY, THE Government has announced that Adelaide will be the home of the Australian Space Agency.

The creation of a national space agency was announced in July 2017, but exactly where it would be located has been up for debate.

“This new base in Adelaide provides an exciting location for the Agency to deliver on our mandate to transform and grow the Australian space industry to inspire and improve the lives of all Australians – underpinned by strong national and international engagement,” the Government said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison expects that the 41 million dollars invested into the agency will act as a “launching pad” to triple Australia’s “space economy” to 12 billion dollars. He also said that the agency would create 20,000 jobs.

Premier of South Australia Steve Marshall welcomed the news.

“Establishing the headquarters of the Australian Space Agency in South Australia will launch our space and defence sectors to the next level,” he said.

Federal Industry, Science and Technology Minister Karen Andrews said that South Australia had made the strongest case to be the new agency’s home.

“South Australia is already home to more than 60 organisations and 800 employees in the space sector and this decision builds on the very strong technology and defence presence in the state,” she said.

“We are committed to growing Australia’s space sector and our government is also investing $260 million to develop world-leading satellite capabilities and to significantly increase GPS accuracy in our cities and regional areas.”

The space agency will be located in Lot Fourteen on the old Royal Adelaide Hospital site.

You can follow the Australian Space Agency on Twitter for updates.