Why isnâ€™t Australia in the space race?

India's low-cost mission to Mars successfully enters the red planet's orbit, crowning what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said was a near impossible push to complete the trip on its maiden attempt. Sarah Toms reports.

A Hubble Space Telescope photo of Mars taken in 1997. Source: AFP

THE future slapped Australians in the face last week, and no, it wasn't the release of the new iPhone.

India managed to get a spacecraft into orbit around Mars, on its first try, for just $80 million dollars. India!

The same week Joe Hockey announced that his first year as Treasurer delivered a budget deficit of $48.5 billion, or the equivalent of 600 Mars-bound probes.

And it has come hot on the heels of the Government throwing $630 million — or eight Mars missions — behind a boost to anti-terror forces and intelligence gathering.

Martian — not jihadist — intelligence gathering will be the focus of Australia's pre-eminent space researchers in Adelaide this week.

They are meeting for the 14th annual Australian Space Research Conference and Mars will be at the top of the agenda.

Just days before India secured their Martian milestone, NASA's latest craft also entered orbit of the Red Planet.

For those counting, that's two spacecraft patrolling Martian skies right now — the same number of Collins class submarines that are typically out of Australian dry docks at any one time.

Graziella Caprarelli, Associate Professor of Space Science at UniSA, says simple curiosity drives study of Mars.

Indian Space Research Organisation scientists and officials celebrate the success of Mars Orbiter Mission. Picture: AP Source: AP

"What motivates all these missions is the search for life," she said.

"Looking for life on another planet is innate in humans. We don't want to be alone."

India's success made them only the fourth team to put a craft into orbit around Mars, following missions from NASA, the Soviets and the Europeans.

And India managed it on their first try — something that not even the Americans or Europeans could do.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi couldn't hide his delight.

"The odds were stacked against us. Of the 51 missions attempted across the world so far, a mere 21 had succeeded," he said.

"But we have prevailed!"

India's success has been remarkable for its price and speed.

Even in an era that NASA pursues bang-for-buck, the American Martian mission cost almost 10 times as much as the Indians'.

And it took about three times as long.

The first image taken by India's Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft shows the surface of Mars from a height of 7300m. Source: AFP

NASA's Mars mission was announced in September 2008, taking six years to reach the planet's orbit.

Then-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the country's Mars aspirations in August 2012. A little over two years later, the first photos from Martian orbit arrived in Delhi.

Both the American and Indian missions are focused on solving the mysteries of the Martian atmosphere.

While Earth is surrounded by a rich, thick atmosphere of mainly oxygen and nitrogen, Mars is clad in a thin layer of mostly carbon dioxide.

But there are also traces of methane, which the sensors of the Indian craft will soon be inhaling for analysis.

"The large contributor of methane on Earth is living things," said Ms Caprarelli.

"By looking at the distribution of methane around the planet scientists hope to figure out if there are some areas where to this day methane is being released and whether that indicates some kind of microbial activity."

Indian engineers work on the Mars orbiter spacecraft at the Indian Space Research Organisation last year. Picture: AP Source: AP

Ms Caprarelli is more interested in the rocks, valleys and mountains on Mars, which include the incredible 22km-high Mount Olympus.

"We are looking at traces of past life that could be recorded in the rocks, a lot like what the early palaeontologists have done for Planet Earth when they went around finding fossils," she said.

"From the fossils they could reconstruct what types of animals and plants existed."

Japan's doing it, China's doing it, India's doing it.

Why can't Australia have a space program?

A 2008 Senate Committee report noted that Australia "should be playing a larger role" in tapping into global space industry revenues estimated at $US250 billion.

But since then only limited progress has been made, delivering mainly a principles document and satellite policy.

"We are now being surrounded in our own backyard by countries that demonstrate that those missions are doable even for very little funding," Ms Caprarelli said.

"And the technology acquired during these missions is invaluable for the development of niche industry."

An image of Mars taken by the European comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta in 2007. Source: AFP

Australia doesn't have a Minister for Space, and the responsibilities previously held by the Minister for Science now fall within the portfolio of Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane.

But space might have more to do with industry than you think.

"Some people may be interested in the possibility of exploring for the purpose of exploitation, for example, of mineral resources," Ms Caprarelli said.

"That's not something that motivates me personally, but from the applicative viewpoint certainly there will be businesses that have been considering whether it's possible to mine other planets or asteroids or explore the solar system for the purposes of resources."

Lost in space: Australia is missing out

JAPAN is doing it, China is doing it, India is doing it. So why can't Australia have a space program?

A 2008 Senate Committee report noted that Australia "should be playing a larger role" in tapping into global space industry revenues, estimated at $US250 billion.

But since then only limited progress has been made, delivering mainly a principles document and satellite policy.

"We are being surrounded in our own backyard by countries that demonstrate those missions are doable, even for very little funding," Graziella Caprarelli, Associate Professor of Space Science at UniSA, said.

"Technology acquired on these missions is invaluable for the development of niche industry."

Australia doesn't have a Minister for Space, and the responsibilities previously held by the Minister for Science now fall within the portfolio of Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane.

But space might have more to do with industry than you think. "Some people may be interested in the possibility of exploring for the purpose of exploitation, for example, of mineral resources," Ms Caprarelli said.

"That's not something that motivates me personally, but from the applicative viewpoint, certainly there will be businesses that have been considering whether it's possible to mine other planets or asteroids or explore the solar system for the purposes of resources."

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As part of the Australian Space Research Conference in Adelaide this week, there is a public talk by Dr Penny King who has worked with NASA on the Curiosity Mars Rover, scheduled at 7pm Monday in the Alan Scott Auditorium (Hawke Building Level 2) of the UniSA City West campus