Its partnership with an Aboriginal community in South Australia’s far west helped put Southern Launch on the map.

Now, nine years after being founded in Adelaide, the space company and mission service provider has headed east to the nation’s capital, with the intent of advancing Australia’s sovereign space and national security capabilities.

The company’s ACT office is located at Brindabella Business Park, in the heart of Canberra’s premier advanced aerospace precinct and reflects the company’s continued growth following a $25 million capital raise backed by the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation.

While expanding into the nation’s capital, Southern Launch will retain its South Australian headquarters at Hindmarsh, on the outskirts of the Adelaide CBD.

Southern Launch CEO Lloyd Damp said the company’s establishment in Canberra reflects the increasing importance of Australia’s space sector to Australia’s future prosperity.

“Canberra sits at the heart of national policy development, defence capability planning and scientific research. Having a presence here allows us to strengthen relationships and support the collaborative efforts required to build a globally competitive Australian space industry,” Mr Damp said.

Since its establishment in Adelaide in 2017, Southern Launch has built an international reputation for space mission services, working with global organisations and supporting NASA-related mission activities including Artemis II.

It also operates two of Australia’s leading spaceports, both of which are located on the Eyre Peninsula. They are the Koonibba Test Range near Ceduna on the state’s far west coast and Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex near Port Lincoln. Whalers Way is a multi-use launch facility supporting orbital and suborbital launch activities, while Koonibba provides a large-scale environment for testing and technology validation.

The Koonibba Test Range is the product of a unique partnership between the space company and the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation. Both organisations worked together to identify and develop land near Koonibba as a commercial rocket testing facility, which was officially opened in 2020. Today it spans 41,000 square kilometres and extends across 350 kilometres of land on the Eyre Peninsula.

Community members are also regularly employed during mission campaigns at the site, including the recent test flight of the first, fully Australian-designed and manufactured advanced solid rocket motor. A student from the Koonibba Aboriginal School also designed the mission badge.

Read more about the successful rocket motor flight test.

Image: Michael Clausen, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, United States Embassy Canberra, Lloyd Damp, Southern Launch CEO and Andrew Barr MLA, Chief Minister of the ACT at Southern Launch’s Canberra office.