WA Spaceport looks to the skies above Albany for world-first launch facility

Albany could become the home of WA’s space exploration industry within just a few years under a bold plan to build a world-first commercial spaceport on the south coast. WA Spaceport founder April Walker said Albany had been identified as a preferred location for a launch facility because it offered a point of difference from possible sites in the NT, Queensland and South Australia. Ms Walker is a Perth-based engineer with a background in the mining and construction industries, a master of business administration and a passion for space. She said the location of her spaceport would help mitigate compromises which had “been adopted as status quo” in the space exploration industry domestically and overseas because of a lack of better options. “I’m a bit of a contrarian in our space community — being a desired launch facility destination goes far beyond the ability to launch directly over unpopulated areas in pursuit of commercial orbits,” she said. “I disagree with many voices in the Australian space community that (the country’s) competitive edge is derived from things like our geography, our stable political environment or our climate — these are not advantages, these are just attributes which allow Australia to participate. “WA Spaceport’s valuable position is based on mitigating costs and prime risks to missions.” A site within the City of Albany has been identified as the proposed home of the privately owned spaceport. The site is about a 30-minute drive from Albany’s CBD with access on sealed roads, but more specific details have not been disclosed for commercial reasons. Ms Walker said she had pinpointed the location because early on in the design phase — which she started about three years ago — she had identified that polar and sun-synchronous commercial orbits were the ones to pursue. She said by identifying the type of orbit to pursue first she had “designed it in reverse,” opening her eyes to the potential of locations which would give WA Spaceport a competitive edge. “The proposed site in Albany offers a wide range of launch inclinations, a proximity to Albany itself and a low risk launch window — which means the vehicles can go quite a way off course before it is an issue that leads to range safety officers terminating the flight,” she said. “The other sites in Australia have those sorts of restrictions on them and aren’t as favourable as the Albany site. “WA Spaceport has eliminated the factors the space industry has taken for granted, we’ve removed what our customers do not value even though they are things the industry has adopted as status quo.” According to the WA Spaceport website, the proposed location has clear ocean southwards with the capability of launching into azimuths up 50 degrees eastwards from south and 85-90 degrees westwards from south. It states that the overall vision of the project is “to provide access to space” and outlines ambitions for the spaceport to be operational in late 2024. “To support international and domestic small satellite launch for individual constellation spacecraft replacement and earth observation applications, WA Spaceport will enable expedient deployment and remove barriers to entry with its cost and time effective licensed orbital launch facilities,” the website states. “Orbital launch facilities require licensing, optimal location...careful design, construction and ongoing maintenance which deprives resources from launch missions. “WA Spaceport enables satellite manufacturers, operators, end users and launch service providers to concentrate their efforts to research, development and innovation to their own technologies.” The spaceport will aim to provide orbital launch capabilities for small to medium rockets on a “non-exclusive access basis”. Ms Walker has partnered with engineering consultancy Norman Disney & Young, which will provide planning and design services for WA Spaceport. “Our customers are mainly international small launch vehicle providers, so don’t think about SpaceX or Falcon 9 because we’re not thinking that whatsoever,” she said. “It’s for smaller vehicles, think of them as the Astras of the space exploration world — the smaller end of town vehicles, not ones that are 80m to 90m tall that launch out of Vandenberg or Cape Canaveral.” Ms Walker said the spaceport would create new opportunities in the region and help to diversify the WA economy. “Space technology is now also improving the operations of other businesses, for example mining is now investing in space technology,” she said. “WA Spaceport will definitely have a direct impact on the creation of jobs in Albany. “Jobs will be created in construction of the facility itself and the operation of the facility in terms of maintenance and hospitality.” The completion of the project is subject to a launch facility licence being granted by the Australian Space Agency. Ms Walker said if regulatory approval was secured, it would be the only licensed and independent orbital launch facility in the world. “Right now we are focused on continuing discussions with our key local, State and Federal stakeholders,” she said.