Space Infrastructure and Services

Australia's Northern Territory is ideally placed to host key infrastructure and services for the global space and aerospace industry, with competitive advantages across 8 investment categories spanning launch, ground stations, HAPS, drones, data analytics, defence, manufacturing and enabling infrastructure.

Each category builds on the Territory's structural advantages and is supported by a pipeline of identified opportunities spanning greenfield infrastructure, commercial operations and sovereign capability.

• Validated by global operators NASA launched a sounding rocket campaign from the Arnhem Space Centre — its first from a commercial spaceport outside the United States.
• The HAPS Alliance acknowledged the Northern Territory’s conducive weather conditions and proximity to key markets as strategic advantages for HAPS operators.
• NASA, JAXA and CNES have launched scientific high altitude balloon campaigns from the Alice Springs Ballooning Facility since the 1970s.
• Geoscience Australia houses its ground station forming part of the Landsat Network in Alice Springs.
• Commercial ground station operators have constructed facilities in Alice Springs to expand global real-time earth networks.
• Space situational awareness networks have installed optical telescope infrastructure in Alice Springs.
• Satellite gateway operators have established NT antenna installations just outside of Darwin.

Geographic and climatic advantages

• Southern hemisphere location with proximity to key Asia-Pacific markets
• Proximity to the equator — creating launch cost efficiencies for operators and their customers
• Clear skies for the majority of the year, with low light pollution and limited noise interference
• Ideal wind and thermal conditions for HAPS operations and stratospheric balloon launch
• Unrestricted beyond visual line of sight airspace at scale — certification timelines unavailable anywhere else in Australia
• Ample land for expansion with established logistics and construction industries
• Abundant renewable energy resources supporting clean aerospace operations

• Investment type: various
• Status: open for investment
• Region: Northern Territory, Australia
• Project value: A$350M – A$8B (across 3 investment scenarios: foundation, coordinated growth, transformational)

Get the space infrastructure and services investment flyer PDF (224.9 KB).