$43m Southern Launch rocket launch site on the Eyre Peninsula to create a $53m economic boost
Launching rockets from a site near Port Lincoln will bring tens of millions of dollars and work for more than 70 people into the region, the team behind the project says.
SA News
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A new rocket-launching complex on the Eyre Peninsula would cost about $43m to build and conduct up to 42 launches a year.
The state’s peak planning body has publicly released an environmental impact statement for Southern Launch’s “Whalers Way Orbital Launch” site.
The document, prepared by the company, says the project would increase employment by 76 full-time equivalent jobs, adding $53.4m in gross state product to South Australia.
But if it can also attract rocket launch operators to set up facilities for final assembly, testing or manufacturing, it would increase ongoing jobs by a total of 142 and gross state product by $318m.
The project, stated for Sleaford, about 25km southwest of Port Lincoln, would also introduce a new arm of tourism to the region, the company says, as the site becomes an attraction for space enthusiasts, families and tour groups to watch launches and visit the site.
Southern Launch chief executive Lloyd Damp said the project would help realise businesses’ need to send more small satellites into orbit.
Practical uses of the technology include monitoring Australia’s marine borders, looking for bushfires, assisting with emergency services and monitoring farmers’ crops.
“It’s exactly the market we’re trying to get Australia to enter,” Mr Damp said.
“The Federal Government’s Australian Space Agency, which aims to triple the size of Australia’s space economy to $12bn by 2030 and create up to 20,000 jobs, is based in SA.
Our state is already home to 80 space-related organisations.”
If the project is approved, the company hopes the site will be operational in the second half of next year, enabling it to launch small rockets.
It would be fully developed in 2027.
The plans will now be scrutinised by the public, government agencies, and conservation groups, including some that have already raised worries about protected birds.
Under the plans, about 24ha of native vegetation would be cleared. That will reduce habitat for animals, such as the threatened southern emu-wren and western whipbird.
The company would “offset” the effects of that work through measures such as contributing to an environmental fund or setting aside land for conservation. Mr Lamp said its plans included removing decades worth of dumped rubbish, sponsoring research on local flora and fauna and removing wild cats.
It will also revegetate parts of the site and work to entice raptors to return to the coastline to nest. After consultation, the State Planning Commission will consider the project before Planning Minister Vickie Chapman decides whether to approve it. Money to build the launch site would come from investors and loans.
To view the company’s environmental impact statement and have your say, visit the State Planning Commission.
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