Western Australia is a long way from the launch pads of Florida, but it has been part of the space story since the 1960s, when ground stations in the State played key roles in NASA’s Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.
Now the State is backing the next step for a company featured on WA Investments. Perth-based Space Angel has been announced as the recipient of the State Government’s $1.75 million Spaceport Establishment Support Grant, awarded through an open and competitive process. Space Angel will match the grant with its own investment.
A spaceport is a site equipped to launch, receive, test or maintain rockets and spacecraft. The grant will pay for the site assessments needed for planning and regulatory approvals, and for a business case for the company’s proposed sites. The announcement is a significant step towards WA having its own spaceport.
Space Angel Founder and CEO Ram Kuppusamy said WA has decades of experience delivering complex projects in “some of the world’s most remote and demanding environments”, which he said gives the State a strong foundation to pursue opportunities in the space economy.
WA’s role in the global space industry
Some of WA’s space work reaches a very long way from Perth:
New Norcia, north of Perth, is home to two of the European Space Agency’s four deep space antennas, which communicate with spacecraft hundreds of millions of kilometres from Earth
SKA-Low, one of the two Square Kilometre Array radio telescopes, is being built in WA’s Mid West
Curtin University staff and students designed and built Binar-1, WA’s first home-grown spacecraft
The State has committed $3.5 million to WA’s first commercial Earth observation satellite assembly capability, at Edith Cowan University
Did you know: there are more than 130 organisations operating space or space-related services in WA.
Backed by the State Government
The grant is part of the State Government’s $2 million Made in WA commitment to build local space industry capability. It sits alongside the Western Australia Space Industry Strategy 2024-30, which aims to make WA a globally recognised Indo-Pacific space hub.
The Government is also running a separate feasibility study to identify other possible spaceport locations.
Science and Innovation Minister Stephen Dawson said a spaceport “would help attract investment”, support high-skilled jobs and create opportunities for WA businesses in the global space economy.
The Government estimates the global space launch services market is worth more than US$15 billion and growing by about 15% a year.
Find your next investment in Western Australia
Space is one of several sectors where WA is building new capability. WA Investments lists the projects looking for investment partners across the State, from clean energy to space industries.
