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Scott Morrison has become the new chairman of Space Centre Australia, the planned spaceport in far north Queensland.
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The former prime minister, who recently joined a Washington-based security and defence think tank, also immediately hinted it had been in discussions with SpaceX over future launches.
“By leveraging Australia’s proximity to Asia-Pacific markets and our robust aerospace ecosystem, SpaceX could achieve new milestones in launch frequency, efficiency and environmental stewardship,” Morrison told The Australian Financial Review.
“Space Centre Australia offers a unique opportunity for SpaceX to diversify its launch sites, allowing them to meet global demands while benefiting from Australia’s advanced technological infrastructure and regulatory stability.”
SCA chief executive James Palmer added the company had been involved in a “bunch of conversations” with the Elon Musk-owned launch company.
“It’s not at Elon’s level yet, but in time it will be,” he said. “They said there was a lot of potential to work with us.”
Australia is currently home to four spaceports: Equatorial Launch Australia’s Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory, Gilmour Space Technologies’ Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland and Southern Launch’s orbital Whalers Way facility and suborbital Koonibba Test Range in South Australia.
Space Centre Australia’s proposed launch site would be in Cape York, the peninsula located in far north Queensland.
However, little has been heard from the company in recent years, though The Cairns Post newspaper reported in January the firm had “all-but snapped up” an 88-hectare land parcel in Punsand Bay.
Once complete, Palmer believes the “multi-use” spaceport could be like a “large international airport” for launch vehicles.
The news of the hiring of Morrison comes after respected news agency Reuters claimed in July that SpaceX was in talks with government officials to land and recover Starship off Australia’s coast.
The apparent proposal would see SpaceX tow Starship over water “to a nearby port on Australia’s western or northern coasts”, mirroring a similar procedure used to test Falcon 9 a decade ago.
Sources also revealed the operation could even pave the way for the Elon Musk-backed firm to launch rockets from the continent in future.
