Hyperdrive
Plan to Mine the Moon Gives Australia Opening in New Space Era
- Companies leverage expertise mining, farming remote locations
- Project to mine water on the moon targets mission in 5 years
This article is for subscribers only.
Australia is joining the growing number of nations looking to compete in space, from launching micro satellites that track sheep to mining water on the moon. Its advantage? Half the country already looks like Mars.
With advances in technology and the falling cost of launch slots, the fledgling Australian Space Agency, set up last year, is taking a commercial approach to extra-terrestrial ventures. It aims to leverage the country’s industrial skills in mining remote locations, developing automation and tapping a fast-growing start-up culture to triple the size of the sector to A$12 billion ($8.5 billion) by 2030.