The new boardroom frontier: Navigating Australia’s $8B space boom

From mapping the dark side of the moon to manufacturing drugs in zero gravity, Australia is at the vanguard of space technology and the sector, already worth over $8 billion annually, is expanding rapidly.

Our space economy, worth $8b per year, according to data from the Australian Space Agency, is accelerating at a high velocity, having nearly doubled in five years, with private investment now overtaking government funding as the primary growth driver. Recent capital raises have buoyed the prospects of several of our most innovative companies. But there are challenges.

Founders say a lack of skilled labour and limited government engagement are stunting growth. Other experts warn the space era has brought with it security risks that no Australian company can afford to ignore.

Even so, Australia's space pioneers are bullish. "When we started 10 years ago, Australia didn't even have a space agency," says Fleet Space Technologies co-founder Flavia Tata Nardini. "Since then, we've seen growth that is quite remarkable."

Precision mining

Fleet Space Technologies found success early on creating subsurface regional maps to help mining companies identify critical-mineral deposits. Rio Tinto and Barrick Gold were among its first clients. "We use ground sensors to map the seismic behaviour of the subsurface and transmit the data to a constellation of satellites," says Tata Nardini.

"They send that data to the cloud, where Al creates 3D models of the subsurface, so clients know where to drill. We're changing the way mining operates worldwide."

Along with a growing network of compact spacecraft, the company designs and deploys satellites to support tactical voice and data communications for defence. Its SPIDER (Seismic payload for interplanetary discovery, exploration and research seismic technology) device will land on the far side of the Moon alongside NASA and European Space Agency payloads later this year. The plan is to deploy seismic instruments on the lunar surface to record natural seismic waves, measure moonquakes and search for water ice.

"We're going to map the area where NASA is trying to build a base," says Tata Nardini. "The hope is to find water."

Fleet's initial capital raises delivered modest results. "We weren't Canva, and it took investors a bit of time to come on board," says Tata Nardini.

In 2024, the company raised $150m in a Series D funding round, bringing its valuation to more than $800m.

The cash turbocharged Fleet's operations. It has recently opened offices in Chile, the US, Canada and Luxembourg, and signed a four-year, $100m exploration contract with Saudi Arabian miner Maaden.

Commercial spaceports

Back on Earth, fledgling outfit Southern Launch is taking advantage of Australia's vast area and minimal air traffic to launch and land space vehicles at two spaceports it has established in South Australia.

In 2020, the company oversaw Australia's first commercial space-capable rocket launches. Since then, it has facilitated many more, including a world-first return to a commercial spaceport with its Winnebago-2 capsule carrying data payloads for the US Air Force, NASA and Varda Space Industries.

The larger of its two facilities, the Koonibba Test Range, covers some 41,000 square kilometres of arid country and is operated in a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation. The large land parcel makes the range an attractive re-entry site for a diverse range of clients whose aim is to bring satellites or rockets back to Earth intact, says CEO Lloyd Damp.

"Right now, we predominantly support the commercial industry, but with our changing geopolitical environment, we expect government partners will soon want to test and evaluate new systems on a more frequent basis."

US startup Varda has conducted four orbital re-entries with Southern Launch to date. Its capsules, which contain equipment to process high-value pharmaceuticals in microgravity, are launched from SpaceX sites in the US and orbit Earth for up to nine weeks before re-entry at the Koonibba range.

Varda's aim, says Damp, is eventually to manufacture drugs in space that would be impossible to create terrestrially. "When you turn off gravity, you can create crystal-based structures without defects. That could mean a chemotherapy drug that is purer, more stable and has fewer side effects."

Southern Launch's collaboration with Varda has exciting implications, not only for Australia's space industry, but also for its pharmaceutical sector, says Damp. "If we can get even a small percentage of the next chemotherapy drug manufactured here en masse, that is a huge boon for us as a nation."

Unicorns in space

Australia's largest space-sector capital raise to date occurred earlier this year, when Gilmour Space Technologies secured $217m in a Series E funding round, shooting its value past $1b. From its Bowen Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland, the company launches rockets carrying small satellites into low Earth orbit.

It also manufactures those rockets and satellites for clients. This all-in-one offering has excited investors familiar with the activities of more established international companies like SpaceX. 

Founder Adam Gilmour notes that $75m of the Series E round came from the taxpayer via the National Reconstruction Fund. He says the Australian government is catching up with other countries by supporting a home-grown space sector.

"But what's lacking is the government as a customer," says Gilmour. "Australian space companies desperately want to provide services to the government, but the government is currently buying those services from foreign companies."

Skills shortages also present themselves, says Damp. "Scaling our workforce is a challenge because we're now getting to the size where we're competing for talented individuals."

Offerings such as Adelaide University's new Global Executive MBA in Space and Defence (GEMBA) may help energise the sector. But with or without government and tertiary support, Australian space companies are determined to grow their industry, says Tata Nardini. "The opportunities are too great not to pursue aggressively. If that means looking overseas for talent and contracts, then that's what we'll do."