Junk floating in space

Early this year, space experts from around the world gathered at ML for five weeks to attend the Southern Hemisphere Summer Space Program hosted by the University of South Australia Mawson Lakes Campus in conjunction with the International Space University.

Delegates talked about space physical science, space systems engineering and technology, space life sciences, space and society, space business and management and space legal and regulatory issues. One speaker was Dr Alice Gorman from Adelaide who studies space archaeology and ‘space junk’. She says that among the hundreds of satellites orbiting earth there are many pieces of junk such as spent rocket stages, defunct satellites, bolts, spanners, or components from colliding objects, and they are rapidly increasing in number. Latest figures show that there are about 25,000 pieces larger than 15cm in orbit.

She says that the world needs to take more notice of what is happening outside the earth’s atmosphere because as more satellites are launched the potential for collision is increasing. This is serious in a world that is dependent on satellite services for things such as communication, scientific work and military observations.

“We could get to the point where the amount of debris in space poses a risk to future missions,” she said. Ed.

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What TREE is that?

If you are looking for trees that are well suited to Mawson Lakes keep watching these pages for a description of a different tree each month. Locations where you can see the trees are advised so you can have a look and see if you like it.

The medium-sized tree Crepe Myrtle provides masses of summer colour from pale pink to dark lavender.

The trees are perfect for a small garden because they are compact and delicate and do not overshadow other plants.

Margaret Taylor (pictured) loves them so much that she has 13 in her garden at 13 The Walk. She says the bark is soft so the plants are easy to prune into bushes or trees. “I prune in August and the trees are at their peak in the summer months when we like to entertain outside.”

In autumn the foliage turns orange-red. As the tree matures, the beige smooth outer bark peels off to reveal a cinnamon coloured underbark. They like full sun and a welldrained soil with mulch in summer.

Suitable for small gardens and containers, the tree grows to a height of about 6 metres and 5 metres wide and produces multiple stems. Mature trees are drought resistant and mostly disease and insect free.

Other Crepe Myrtles can be seen in the Peninsular Park where there are 8 white trees in flower this month.

Source: Gardens of Mawson Lakes by Linda Vining. Book is available from Mawson Lakes Living for $20.

City of Salisbury 2012 Calendar

There’s so much happening in the City of Salisbury (Mawson Lakes local government area) over the coming year that and you really need a calendar to keep track of events.

Salisbury Council has designed a handsome calendar that highlights events for 2012. In addition, it gives information on fitness loops in Salisbury, dog parks, recreation centres, youth enterprise, historical walks, festivals, awards and local libraries.

You can pick up a free copy at The Mawson Centre in Main Street.