Astronomy and astrophysics don't, on the whole, provide solutions to society's immediate problems. Instead, the primary goal of basic science is to expand our sphere of knowledge. So my work has not yet benefitted society directly, but if you ask me that question in 100 years time I hope I'll be able to point at some major technology which has benefitted humanity and show that it had its origins in some piece of astronomy that is being done now. There is also another benefit from astronomy. Astronomy is technology limited, and so its practitioners tend to push the technology to its limits.
Astronomers tend to work with industry to extract more from the available technology.
In that case, our international connections made us realise that here was a technology that we could make use of, long before the rest of Australian industry. Other examples are the image processing techniques used in CAT scanners in hospitals, which started off in radio-astronomy, and the Australian satellite ground stations being exported to Asia, which started off as a company spun off from the construction of the Australia Telescope. In my work, I am presented with such a variety of opportunities and challenges that its diffciult to know which ones to take on. If you wish to ask Ray for additional information, you can email UniServe Science and we will contact Ray for you. Make sure you include Ray's name and occupation in the Subject line.