ELA to ‘immediately’ shut NT spaceport and move to Queensland

In a strongly worded statement, ELA said the decision was “forced by the inability to finalise a lease” for the expansion of its Arnhem Space Centre, which it blamed on the Northern Land Council.

It’s not known how the potential move would affect its current client contracts at its original site, which include two long-term tenants or any permits signed off by the Australian Space Agency.

A potential move would also make it a direct competitor to Space Centre Australia, the planned spaceport in Cape York that recently announced Scott Morrison as its new chairman.

“Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) today announced the decision to immediately cease operations of the Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory and relocate the spaceport to a new site in Queensland,” said the company in a press release quietly published on Monday.

“This decision has been forced by the inability of the company to finalise a lease for the expansion of the Arnhem Space Centre. The lease approval process had been in progress formally for just under three years (formal application on 1 January 2022).

“The decision came after the Northern Land Council (NLC) failed to meet its own specified deadline for the approval of the Head Lease for the fourth time over the last 12 months in October 2024.

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“Despite desperate appeals from ELA, the Northern Territory Chief Minister’s Department, and the Gumatj Corporation since February 2024, the NLC would not issue a Head Lease or provide any official reasons for the delays.

“The Gumatj are ELA’s direct landlord for the existing site and are the traditional owners and operators of the adjacent and disused bauxite mine on the Gove Peninsula, the site that ELA had requested for the spaceport expansion.

“The continued delays from the NLC have made the existence of the spaceport in the Northern Territory challenging, and the most recent delay to late 2025 to allow consultation with traditional owner groups had the potential to put ELA in breach of its contractual obligations with launch clients and jeopardised a previously secured major funding round.

“Accordingly, Management and the Board of ELA were left with no option other than to act in the best interest of its customers and shareholders and abandon negotiations to seek an alternate equatorial site in Queensland.

“Working with the Queensland Government, ELA has identified a potential alternate site and has commenced planning and regulatory clearances for its contracted launches in Q3 2025. The new site, named the ‘Australian Space Centre Cape York™’, will be at Weipa in Queensland. More information about this new site will be released in coming days.

“ELA is saddened that the more than $100m investment that ELA was making in the East Arnhem region, and the projected $3.6bn in direct economic stimulus, local job creation, and support for local and regional students in STEM projects, as well as the long-term opportunities that were forecast over the life of the proposed lease, will now no longer materialise.

“ELA would like to thank the unrelenting support of the Northern Territory Government and the Gumatj Corporation, who have both been exemplary partners in the spaceport’s eight-year existence and throughout this difficult process.”