(Belga) The American space agency NASA will very soon launch three rockets from Australia for the first time in 27 years, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Wednesday.
Between June 26 and July 12, three rockets will take off from Arnhem Space Centre, a facility of commercial company Equatorial Launch Australia located in the Northern Territory, Australia’s northern administrative region. This is the first launch from a commercial launch facility outside the United States in NASA history. It will also be NASA’s first rocket launch from Australia since 1995. The rockets will be used to study phenomena in heliophysics, astrophysics and planetary science. “Through launches, we will be able to study how light from a star can affect a planet’s habitability, among other things,” said NASA’s Nicky Fox. About 75 NASA employees will travel to Australia for the launches, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. The indigenous Gumatj people, traditional owners of the land, were consulted about the launches. The rockets will fly 250 kilometers skyward to “gather data on the physics of the sun and its relationship to the earth”, Prime Minister Albanese said. According to him, the launches herald a “new era” in the Australian space industry, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. (Belga)