Episode Details

Australia has been offered a seat in space, but time is running out.

The European Space Agency has invited Australia to send its first government astronaut, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, to the International Space Station (ISS).

The catch? The ticket likely costs about $100 million and the ISS is set to deorbit around 2030. The offer stands for a few months longer, at most.

Deputy Director of the International Space Centre at the University of Western Australia, Larissa Wiese, calls it a once-in-a-generation shot at an Australian seat at the global space table, backing an industry that already turns over $4.6 billion and employs 17,000 people. Miss it, she warns, and we may never catch up.

But as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stares down a tight budget and a cost-of-living crisis, is a $100 million space ticket smart nation-building, or an easy political target? 

Hosts Waleed Aly and Hamish Macdonald dig into the money, the potential stakes for AUKUS and advanced manufacturing, and whether Australia is happy to remain a space "consumer" as other countries reach for the stars.

Guest: Larissa Wiese, the deputy director of the International Space Centre at the University of Western Australia. 

Get in touch:

We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

Find all the episodes of Global Roaming now via the ABC Listen App or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Global Roaming: Prof Brian Cox on whether Elon Musk owns the moon