Queensland is playing an outsized role in the new race to commercialise space
A world-leading Queensland space technology firm has doubled its workforce to 100 over the past year and wants to add another 100 staff as it heads into orbit.
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As Australia’s burgeoning space industry gathers momentum, Queensland is playing an outsized role in the race to seize new commercial opportunities in the skies.
Three out of four companies which recently snared $3m in federal government grants are based in the Sunshine State.
One of those firms, Gilmour Space Technologies on the Gold Coast, has just helped launch the Australian Space Manufacturing Network, a joint initiative by more than 30 businesses hoping to win about $150m in government funding.
Gilmour is also among the leading advocates for the development of a new space launch facility at Abbot Point, near Bowen.
The rush of activity comes as analysts predict that the global value of the space economy will swell to $1 trillion by 2030.
Since 2018, the federal government has committed more than $700m to boost the civilian space sector. The goal is to triple the industry’s value to $12bn and create an additional 20,000 jobs over the next decade.
A key plank of the funding is known as the Moon to Mars initiative, a $150m effort offering grants of up to $1m through mid-2023 to help companies break into new markets.
Gilmour, which raised $61m from investors in June and hopes to launch its first orbital rocket late next year, received $1m from the Moon to Mars war chest.
The money will help its manufacturing capability to produce “composite overwrapped pressure vessels” that can hold fluids under pressure, as necessitated by the aerospace industry.
With plans to launch its first orbital rocket next year, the company has doubled its staff numbers to 100 over the past year and expects to employ another 100 in the next 12 months.
A company spokewoman said about half the new recruits would be engineers but the company was also looking for workers across its operations, including office staff.
Another company which recently received a federal grant was Black Sky Aerospace, based in the Logan suburb of Jimboomba, which pocketed $678,487 to expand production of its booster propellant.
Brisbane firm Crystalaid Manufacture snared $538,882 to boost its high-tech manufacturing capability to produce electronic components that can withstand the extreme fluctuations of temperature in space.
Ross McKinnon, who chairs Crystalaid’s parent company Grabba Technologies, said the cash windfall was the second grant in three months for the firm and took its total to $1m.
“This is the next step for companies like Crystalaid, with increasing global demand for complex electronics that can survive the rigors of space,’’ Mr McKinnon said.
“It will also improve Australia’s capability for technologies to improve farming support, weather monitoring and emergency management from space.”
Angus Taylor, the acting minister for Industry, Science and Technology, said that the financial assistance was consistent with the high priority placed on the space sector, which is considered one of six national manufacturing priorities.
“These grants directly contribute to building the skills and capabilities of Australian pace businesses so they can scale up their operations and become competitive in global markets,” MrTaylor said.
Under the ambitious blueprint proposed by the Australian Space Manufacturing Network, the Gold Coast would become home to several testing and manufacturing facilities which could create more than 850 jobs building rockets and satellites.
Gilmour Space chief executive Adam Gilmour noted that satellites can now help detect bushfires within minutes and provide crop data to farms while linking up remote communities.
“We see this as a genuinely industry-led project that will provide the framework and infrastructure needed to unlock collaborations, create jobs and capability, attract private investment and advance Australian space technologies from initial concept through to commercialization and launch,’’ he said.
The company launched its first hybrid rocket in 2016 and is now building a special engine to help meet the growing global demand to shoot satellites into orbit.
It has raised a whopping $87m from investors to date and is considered to be a world leader in “orbital class hybrid propulsion” technologies, which use safer and lower-cost fuels than traditional chemical propulsion rockets.
That’s been enough for Gilmour to seal three launch contracts so far with both Australian and US firms.
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