Funding totalling $4.55 million has been allocated to continue Australia’s involvement in two major international research projects.

 

The funding, provided through Australian Research Council’s Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme, includes $3 million to maintain Australia’s involvement in the Gemini Telescope Partnership, and $1.55 million towards the Integrated Offshore Drilling Program (IODP).

 

Australia’s contribution to the Gemini Telescope Partnership gives Australian astronomers access to the Gemini South telescope on the summit of Cerro Pachon in Chile, and to the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini North telescope on the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Together these telescopes give us a view of the entire sky.

 

Industry, Innovation, Science and Research Minister, Senator Kim Carr said the research and experience made possible by  access to these telescopes is helping Australia prepare for its key role in planned next-generation radio and optical telescopes—including the Australian/NewZealand bid for the Square Kilometre Array and partnership in the Giant Magellan Telescope.

 

The Integrated Offshore Drilling Program is an international marine research program aimed at advancing scientific understanding of the Earth by monitoring and recording seafloor sediments and rocks, and mapping and sampling sub-seafloor environments.

 

Data collected through the program has a range of benefits. Through participation in the IODP, Australian, US and Japanese scientists can better predict natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunami and volcanic activity, and understand natural environmental change from human activity.

 

More information about the Gemini Telescope Partnership is available from the Gemini Observatory website, www.gemini.edu or www.astronomyaustralia.org.au.

 

More information about the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program is available from the IODP website.