Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) has said they will be ceasing operations of the Arnhem Space Centre Northern Territory and relocating the spaceport to a new site in Queensland.
The relocation of the spaceport has been forced by the company's inability to finalise a lease for the expansion of the Arnhem Space Centre. The lease approval process had been in progress for just under three years.
The decision came after the Northern Land Council (NLC) failed to meet its deadline for the application of the Head Lease for the fourth time over the past four months in October 2024.
Despite appeals from ELA, LA, the Northern Territory Chief Minister’s Department and the Gumatj Corporation since February, would not issue a Head Lease or give any reasons for the delay.
“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,” ELA said in a statement.
This led the management board of ELA to abandon negotiations and seek an alternative site in Queensland.
Working with the Queensland Government, ELA found a site at Weipa in Queensland for its contracted launches in 2025. The new site is named the “Australian Space Centre Cape York™”.
“ELA is saddened that the more than $100m investment it was making in the East Arnhem region, the projected $3.6 billion in direct economic stimulus, local job creation, support and motivation for local and regional students in STEM projects, and the long-term opportunities that were forecast over the life of the proposed lease will no longer materialise,” the statement said.
“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 is not known how the potential move will affect current client contracts at the original site, which include two long-term tenants or any permits signed off by the Australian Space Agency.
