VOLUNTEER COMBINES HIS FLIGHTS OF FANCY
BOND University student George Cary is fusing two of his greatest passions, space and business, as a volunteer at this week’s 18th Australian Space Research Conference on the Gold Coast.
“I would love to combine them in the future,” he said.
James Gilmour, from Pimpama start-up Gilmour Space Technologies, said inspiring the next generation of space workers was one of the reasons he helped bring the conference to the Gold Coast.
“Delegates who come for the conference will be able to see what’s on offer here on the Gold Coast, and local universities can get involved as well,” he said.
Mr Gilmour said the industry would need tens of thousands of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skilled employees to fill positions in the next 10 to 20 years.
“For many years Australia has suffered from a significant brain drain when it comes to space and if you wanted to work in the industry you had to relocate to Europe or the US,” he said.
“Now with the (Australian) Space Agency having launched, we can finally grow the local space industry and provide viable careers.”
He said although Australia accounted for just 0.8 per cent of the global space industry, it already had 10,000 full-time equivalent employees and injected $3-$4 billion into the Australian economy.