Space Centre Australia chief executive officer James Palmer and former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison met with acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy during the meeting held in Washington DC.
“(We were able to discuss) Space Centre Australia’s ongoing work at Wallops Island Flight Facility, Atakani Space Centre, Project Karman Line, and the development of our upcoming aviation and airborne science capability,” according to Palmer.
“The message from these discussions is clear – we are in a new space race. It’s a race not just to reach the moon, but to stay there and go beyond.
“Now, more than ever, the Western world must unite its leading scientific minds, technologies and resources to ensure we not only win this race but sustain it for generations to come.
“Thank you to the team at National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center for helping to pull this important meeting together.”
Former PM Morrison attended the meeting acting as the Advisory Board chairman of Space Centre Australia.
“More progress this week for Space Centre Australia in the US to advance new initiatives for our US-based operations with NASA and a new Airborne Science consortium being led by the University of Massachusetts,” he said.
“Really appreciate the strong support from acting administrator Duffy who we met with at NASA HQ earlier this week.”
Late last month, Australia and the United States signed a treaty-level space framework agreement to explore new opportunities for government, businesses and researchers to collaborate on joint projects with NASA and other American partners.
The agreement was signed during the 76th International Astronautical Congress at Sydney’s International Convention Centre on 30 September.
“This is just one more step in growing your program and growing the partnership, which we think is so important,” Duffy said.
“Great allies working together not just on Earth but in space is critical. And so we appreciate it. We’re hoping to spend more money.
“We all are about getting more money into our budgets since it’s a conversation that both countries have (and consider to be) an important conversation.
“For having our governments be willing to spend money on science and exploration and again, both of us doing that together is going to be important and this is a critical step forward making that happen so.”