A rocket launch company in the remote Northern Territory says it has the capability to test defence missiles – a development that has sparked concern within the local community.
Space company Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) has signed an agreement with United States rocket company Phantom Space Corporation to collaborate on missions at the Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) in the NT.
Phantom, which has confirmed it has had links to the US Department of Defense, has voiced its hopes to mass-produce rockets and fire orbital rockets from the north-east Arnhem Land site by 2025.
The two firms said they were working towards a "space mission of national significance for Australia and the Asia Pacific region" but would not be drawn on the specifics of what that mission could be.
ELA chief executive Michael Jones said the mission plan was "classified and confidential".
"However, missions of national significance exist in most nations interested in space and are generally national security or major capability attainment missions," Mr Jones said.
Mark D Lester, Phantom's chief operating officer, said that "since the US and Australia remain close allies, it is possible we will conduct defence missions" at the Arnhem Space Centre in the future.
"However, the growth of commercial use of space will eclipse government uses and that includes our projected launches from Australia," Mr Lester said.
Phantom confirmed, in correspondence with the ABC, that it had built "an imaging satellite for a commercial customer who will be deploying this imagery in support of United States Department of Defence core missions".
When questioned on if and how the Arnhem Space Centre could be used by potential military customers, ELA's Mr Jones said the site could one day be used as a missile-testing and development range.
"The facilities, technologies and capabilities of ELA and the ASC are also able to allow it to be used as a state-of-the-art test and development range for both commercial and defence missiles and rockets," Mr Jones said.
ELA's comments come on the week Australia's Defence Minister Richard Marles has handed down a wideranging defence review ushering the nation into the "missile age".
The National Defence Strategic Review recommends upgrades to bases across Australia's north.
Phantom has previously described its ambition to become the "Henry Ford of Space", referring to the Ford Motor Company founder's historic mass production of the Model T Ford automobile in the US.
Mr Lester confirmed in a statement the company hoped to mass-produce rockets in Arnhem Land to help "enable regular, reliable, and affordable access to space".
Arnhem Land politician raises concern
Arnhem Land politician Yingiya Guyula said there needed to be more consultation with local constituents if the space centre was to be used for military purposes, such as for a missile range.
"The initial [Northern Land Council] briefing process was only about sub-orbital rockets and sounding rockets," he said.
"I have not been consulted … about orbital rockets and missiles being launched from our country and it is very concerning that these things are being talked about by ELA and others without the Yolngu clans connected to the Gove Peninsula being at the forefront of that conversation."
Mr Guyula's electorate covers the site of the Arnhem Space Centre as well as the nearby township of Nhulunbuy and its surrounding Aboriginal communities.
"Many people [have] raised concerns with me about the Space Centre being used by military," he said.
"Our concerns are that we may become a target if there is a foreign threat and our country is seen as expendable because we are in the middle of nowhere.
"But we are not in the middle of nowhere. The rockets are launching, flying over, and coming down on country that is populated.
"From bigger towns, to homeland towns, to hunting grounds and ceremonial sites."
Mr Jones was asked if there had been any consultation with the community about military customers potentially using the site, to which he answered: "The content of our commercial discussions is confidential."
ELA last year facilitated three sub-orbital sounding rocket launches at the Arnhem Space Centre by US space giant NASA, the first NASA rockets to be fired on Australian soil in more than 25 years.
