The document outlines South Australia’s space sector strategy and plans for growth. The vision is for South Australia to have a thriving space ecosystem by 2030, supporting Australia’s national space strategy and capitalizing on opportunities in the “NewSpace” sector.
Three Pillars for Growth
1) Contribute to Australia’s national space strategy
- Focus areas include launch capabilities, space situational awareness, and space food production
2) Capitalize on NewSpace opportunities
- Support development of small satellites, constellations, and using space data with AI/ML
3) Cultivate South Australia as a hub for space activities
- Expand workforce skills, innovation ecosystem, infrastructure, globally competitive industry, and attract investment
Goals include enabling industry to develop “flight-heritage” space products, establishing polar launch capabilities, supporting positive norms and rules for space actors, leveraging food production expertise for space farming, and boosting the economy through better exploitation of space-derived data.
Key Opportunities Highlighted
- Develop a dedicated small satellite launch site at Whaler’s Way for polar orbits
- Build a center of excellence for space domain awareness capabilities
- Contribute expertise to space farming/food production for NASA Artemis and other programs
- Expand space education and training offerings, including vocational programs
- Continue hosting the GRAVITY Challenge to solve problems with space tech and accelerate commercialization
- Attract foreign direct investment from space companies to build local ecosystem
The strategy aims for above average growth of 5.8% per year over the next decade to reach a space sector contribution of $250 million to South Australia’s economy by 2030.
