Sirius Space Services will launch its first rocket in 2026, followed by further launches the following year as part of a “multi-year, multi-launch” agreement.
ELA also revealed it was in the “final stages of negotiations” with three more rocket firms to become long-term tenants, with announcements expected shortly.
“We absolutely love working with Sirius, who we believe are amongst the most mature and advanced launch service providers we work with,” ELA chief executive Michael Jones said.
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“We first visited Antoine Fourcade, co-founder and CEO, and Francois Maroquene-Froissart, co-founder and chief technology officer, in their offices in La Defence (Paris) nearly three years ago. We have visited numerous times, and they have joined us in Adelaide and at the Arnhem Space Centre (ASC).”
ELA plans to accommodate up to seven resident launchers initially, but the site has the potential to grow further. It will also rent out launchpads and services for one-off, ad-hoc blast-offs.
“The campaign will begin with the development and test flights of SIRIUS 1 in 2026, followed by launches of the larger SIRIUS 13 (800-kilogram payload capacity) in 2027,” ELA said.
“The flexibility to access a range of orbits, including medium and low inclination orbits, SSO and equatorial, along with ELA’s full-service offering, were the key reasons behind the decision by Sirius to sign with ELA for launches from the ASC.
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“Sirius’ has an innovative approach to rocket engine design, which comprises metal additive manufacturing/3D printing using copper and nickel-chromium superalloys. Its STAR-1 engine is fuelled by liquid oxygen and methane, producing 55kN of thrust.”
The news comes a year after ELA revealed Innospace would become the first long-term tenant at the Arnhem Space Centre and following a separate announcement that Singaporean rocket firm Equatorial Space Systems would perform suborbital launches later this year.
ELA’s spaceport is one of four in Australia, competing against rivals Southern Launch in South Australia, which has two, and Gilmour Space Technologies in Queensland.
Despite its recent flurry of commercial deals, ELA is best known for blasting off three NASA rockets in 2022, in a landmark moment for the local sector.
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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