A Northern Territory space centre is set to become the first privately-owned location outside of the United States to launch NASA rockets, having signed a deal to start operations in 2020.
I cannot overstate how excited I am about this.
The Arnhem Space Centre is located near Nhulunbuy, in the very north of the state. SBS reports that it’ll be ready to launch small rockets by the end of this year – and by next year, will be launching real life space flights.
This is a huge deal for the space industry in Australia, which has only recently started to get off the ground (lol sorry).
Chief executive of Equatorial Launch Australia Carley Scott called the exclusive deal with NASA the “single most important event to date” for the Aussie space industry. She went on:
What we think the deal will mean is bringing unprecedented growth in the space sector in Australia.
We’ve been pioneering in the area and it’s been a lot of hard work to date so when the world’s best are prepared to work with us, it’s a great endorsement.
Fucken I’LL SAY. NASA will be using the site to launch things called sounding rockets, which are designed to pop into suborbital space for brief periods in order to collect data and carry out tests.
The most important question is obviously yet to be answered: can we visit the Space Centre, and can I please go on the rocket? We’ll bring you more on this crucial subject as it develops.
