Space company docks in SA
South Australia has landed one of the country’s leading space companies.
Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) has announced it will establish its headquarters in Adelaide.
Arnhem Space Centre
It’s another endorsement of the state’s innovative and supportive approach, which is seeing national and international space companies gravitate to South Australia.
It’s another endorsement of the state’s innovative and supportive approach, which is seeing national and international space companies gravitate to South Australia.
The move also puts ELA closer to the Australian Space Agency, the regulatory authority that grants launch permits for every launch from Australia.
The company, which is receiving support through the South Australian Landing Pad program, will employ approximately 10 to 15 people, expanding to more than 40 over the next three years.
After delivering Australia’s first commercial space launch for NASA, ELA is growing and commencing development of the next stage of the Arnhem Space Centre. To support this growth and the associated engineering and technical support functions, ELA is recruiting for a variety of roles, with the majority to be based in Adelaide. These include General Manager, Engineering and Arnhem Space Centre, Business Development Manager, Digital and Social Specialist, as well as multiple roles in engineering and business support functions.
“ELA is excited about the future of South Australia’s space industry,” said Michael Jones, Executive Chairman and Group CEO, Equatorial Launch Australia.
“Adelaide and South Australia will be an essential base for our world-class space engineering in support of our planned high tempo space launch operations from our Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory.
“We look forward to taking a leading role in the development of the Australian space capability as we work towards achieving our mission to deliver world-class launch services supporting testing, launch and recovery of vehicles and payloads flown to and from all space orbits.
“We intend to build strong working relationships with the local universities, and other space companies clustered in South Australia with a clear plan to foster emerging talent.”
ELA’s experience and technical services span across astrospace, commercial enterprise, regulation, asset development and complex project management along with space strategy and systems engineering.
South Australia will become ELA’s corporate headquarters and a hub for launch preparation and safety assessment activities which will support the attraction of space-related engineering, project management and safety analysis talent to the state.
Founded in 2015, ELA successfully completed its third launch with NASA in July (2022) in the Northern Territory, where the company’s Arnhem Space Centre is located. The company is providing world-class launch services supporting testing, launch and recovery of vehicles and payloads flown to and from all space orbits.
For further information about the South Australian Landing Pad visit www.invest.sa.gov.au/south-australian-landing-pad
For further information on Equatorial Launch Australia visit www.ela.space/careers/