Work on the Arnhem Space Centre site near Nhulunbuy will cease and a new launch site will be established at Weipa. Photo: ELA.
An Australian multi-user commercial space launch company has announced it is halting its plans to offer launch services from Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, and will instead move its launch site to Weipa on Cape York in Far North Queensland.
Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) made the sudden announcement on 9 December that it would “immediately cease operations” in the Territory after it said it was unable to finalise a much-delayed lease deal in Arnhem Land.
The company had built the foundations of the Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) 35 km from Nhulunbuy in the Territory’s northeast. The ASC would have comprised two launch pads capable of supporting a variety of different rockets, a horizontal integration centre where rocket components are brought together, and a launch and mission control.
The advantage of launching from Australia’s far north is its proximity to the equator, allowing rockets launched towards the east against the earth’s rotation to place payloads in orbit faster and cheaper than those launched from lower latitudes.
In August 2023, ELA’s Mission & Orbit Specialist Stephanie Marsh explained, “The surface of the Earth is travelling faster at the equator than at any other point on the globe – 460 m/s – due to the rotational motion of the planet.
“As a result, rockets launched from sites near the equator receive an additional natural boost to get into orbit, reducing the amount and cost of fuel needed, and thereby increasing payload capacity.”
The company had hoped to host up to 50 launches a year from the ASC.
But, despite appeals from ELA, the Northern Territory Chief Minister’s Department and the Gumatj Corporation since February 2024, the Northern Land Council (NLC) has been unable to issue a head lease for the ASC, nor provide any official reasons for the delays.
“This decision has been forced by the inability of [ELA] to finalise a lease for the expansion of the Arnhem Space Centre,” a statement from ELA reads. “The lease approval process had been in progress formally for just under three years (formal application on 1 January 2022).
“The decision came after the NLC failed to meet its own specified deadline for the approval of the head lease for the fourth time over the last 12 months in October 2024.
“The continued delays from the NLC have made the existence of the spaceport in the Northern Territory challenging, and the most recent delay to late 2025 to allow consultation with traditional owner groups had the potential to put ELA in breach of its contractual obligations with launch clients, and jeopardised a previously secured major funding round,” it added.
As a result, ELA has been in negotiation with the Queensland State Government about a possible alternate site on Cape York.
“Working with the Queensland Government, ELA has identified a potential alternate site and have commenced planning and regulatory clearances for its contracted launches in Q3 2025,” it said.
“The new site, named the Australian Space Centre Cape York, will be at Weipa in Queensland.”
ELA says it plans to release additional information about when it can start construction of the new space centre, and when launch services can commence.
“ELA would like to thank the unrelenting support of the Northern Territory Government and the Gumatj Corporation, who have both been exemplary partners in the spaceport’s eight-year existence and throughout this difficult process,” it said.
Original Article published by Andrew McLaughlin on PS News.
