With all students and staff accounted for, the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, which runs the facility, has estimated property damage to be in excess of AU$20 million, with four telescopes, the equipment workshop, eight houses which had been occupied by staff and an administration building destroyed.
EOS said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) it had lost a laser tracking facility to the fire. The equipment was operated by EOS for the Australian government, and was used to pinpoint the location of stars, satellites and even space junk. However, a partially completed full-scale space surveillance facility appears to have remained intact.
With the EOS damage bill estimated at AU$6 to AU$8 million, group general manager Ron Thompson said reconstruction had already commenced at the site.
"The older facility we had is completely gone, but the newer one that is under construction is still there, we just have to complete some tests before we can be sure there was no damage," Thompson said. "The facilities were fully insured, and we have already begun to rebuild."
While the university has announced its intention to rebuild the facility, it has yet to release details. EOS on the other hand expects to have the site operational again by June 2003.
"It shouldn't have too adverse an impact on space sciences in Australia," said Thompson. "There is too much resilience and smarts in the market for it to be impacted badly. What was lost however was a lot of history, a lot of blood sweat and tears that have gone into the Observatory over the years, what do you do when you lose heritage?"
