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Space

Opportunities
Arnhem Space Centre

The Northern Territory Government is committed to accelerating growth in the Territory’s space industry and capabilities - connecting Territory industry with the Australian and global space economy.

The Territory’s geographic location and climatic conditions provides significant advantages for key infrastructure and services for the global space industry, with competitive advantages for:

  • Launch services of space vehicles to all orbits
  • Ground stations
  • Launch and recovery of high altitude pseudo satellites (HAPS)
  • Earth observation.

Key insights of our space opportunities

250+ days

of clear skies a year, from the Central Australia region

12 degrees

south of the equator

Our launch capabilities

Equatorial Launch Australia’s Arnhem Space Centre is a commercial space launch facility providing efficient launch, tracking and recovery options for government, research and commercial customers.

Arnhem Space Centre in the East Arnhem region commenced launch operations in June 2022, successfully launching a NASA sounding rocket campaign.

  • Located at 12° south of the equator
  • Full range of orbit and inclinations
  • Regional location with services hub and minimal air traffic
  • Phase 1 facility is equipped with 3 launch pads.

Arnhem Space Centre’s design allows the site to reliably scale to support all current and future launch and recovery technologies.

Equatorial Launch Australia is launch-ready, and is taking interest from launch customers and phase 2 financial investors.

To find out more and contact Equatorial Launch Australia:

Equatorial Launch Australia

Aboriginal artwork sattelite

Ground stations in the Territory

The Territory’s clear skies, low light pollution and fibre internet network are driving investment in Territory ground station infrastructure.

The Top End region is emerging as a hub for ground station infrastructure. OneWeb has chosen Darwin as the location for one of its 3 Australian gateway ground stations.

In Alice Springs in Central Australia, the Centre for Appropriate Technology (CfAT) offers Ground Stations as a Service (GSaaS) and has multiple sites available for additional ground segment infrastructure projects at it's Space Industry Precinct.

The precinct hosts the facilities of Geoscience Australia, European space company ArianeGroup and US multinational Viasat. CfAT Satellite Enterprises is highly skilled in the installation and maintenance of ground station facilities, and the ideal partner for any operator considering a new ground station facility in Central Australia.

To find out more and contact Centre for Appropriate Technology:

Centre for Appropriate Technology

Ballooning_JAXA campaign 2018_copyright CSIRO

High-altitude pseudo satellites (HAPS)

The Northern Territory Government recognises the potential of Alice Springs as the headquarters of HAPS launch, research and development in the southern hemisphere and is  seeking to support the growth of innovative technology industries.

The region has a long history in high altitude ballooning with NASA, JAXA and CNES conducting over 120 launches.

Alice Springs embodies the characteristics conducive for safe and efficient launch and recovery of HAPs vehicles with:

  • low population and low vegetated terrain
  • clear skies and ideal wind conditions
  • proximity to experienced local suppliers.
Satellite and Earth

Earth observation

The Northern Territory plays an important role in the Australian and international ecosystem, hosting key ground stations and Calibration and Validation (CalVal) of earth observation (EO) infrastructure.

Geoscience Australia’s Alice Springs ground station regularly downlinks raw EO data directly from Landsat 7 & 8, NOAA, Terra, Aqua and Suomi NPP satellites which forms the foundation for development of key EO products and solutions.

Territory company Maitec established the North Australian Satellite Validation Facility in Litchfield National Park in partnership with ACRI-ST, the European Commission, European and German space agencies, and universities of Southampton and Valencia.

Geoscience Australia has identified a significant opportunity to expand the Territory’s footprint in the EO / CalVal space, including the potential for a dedicated space park in Alice Springs.

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Find out more

Northern Territory space strategy 2022 to 2026

The strategy provides a framework to support growth and investment in the Territory space industry.

Northern Territory space infrastructure

The Northern Territory is already home to globally significant space infrastructure, with more on the way.