This is not the first time a spaceport has been proposed for the nothern parts of Australia. Lets hope it leads somewhere!
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THE Top End could become home to a launching pad for space travel.
Darwin was named in a space industry report by the Senate Standing Committee on Economics as one of three sites -along with Cape York and Christmas Island - that had been considered for a launch pad.
Australian National University astronomer professor Paul Francis - who has previously worked at NASA - told the Northern Territory News yesterday that Darwin would "win hands down''.
He said it was close to the equator, would not kill a lot of people if things went wrong, and - unlike the other two sites - had much-needed infrastructure like roads, rail and power.
"If something goes wrong you don't want your burning space probe crashing on a city and killing people - that's why people put (launch pads) on the coast so it can launch over the sea."
Australia has form in the space stakes - South Australia's Woomera test facility was once the world's second most heavily used launch site.
But its distance from the equator means it is less suitable for launches - the speeds at which the Earth is spinning at the equator gives rockets an extra kick.
The senate's report - entitled Lost In Space? Setting a new direction for Australia's space science and industry sector - concluded it was in Australia's national interest to reduce its reliance on other countries for space technology.
It recommended establishing an Australian Space Agency.
But while it noted Woomera test facility's former popularity, it did not think Australia was likely to regain its role as a launch site.
Prof Francis acknowledged it was difficult for new sites to compete with established launch pads.
But he said there was growing interest in commercialising space travel and making it much cheaper for amateur astronauts.
"At the moment it's $20 million to put a person in space.
"A lot of people are betting you can bring the price of launching way down in the next 10 years - that the price can go down by 10 to 100 times. If that's the case there's going to be launch pads coming up all over the world."
British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactica plans to start ferrying private citizens into space next year - tickets start at US$200,000.
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