Canberra is the driving force behind Australia’s space industry. We have the infrastructure, businesses, research strengths and education and training systems to support your growth.

Advancing the nation’s space agenda

Canberra leads the country in the capabilities needed to drive Australia’s space agenda, including:

• contributing to global space situational awareness and debris monitoring
• the provision of earth observation satellites and services through satellite imagery data into spatial applications
• supporting hundreds of deep space missions through the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC), managed on behalf of NASA by CSIRO
• providing Australia’s only end-to-end facilities for designing, building and testing spacecraft
• Building Australia’s first civilian Optical Ground Station (OGS)

Canberra’s opportunities

Canberra’s space capabilities are internationally renowned. Do business here and you’ll have access to:

• Australia’s most advanced space qualification and testing facilities
• a skilled workforce of technical, scientific, and business-minded individuals
• leading national data sets and facilities
• the top-ranked universities and research institutions that are leading space efforts, astronomy reasearch and education

Australia’s space capital

Canberra’s space sector is mature and ready to capitalise on new opportunities in Space. You will find:

• Research clusters between the Australian National University (ANU) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra
• A high concentration of academics, researchers and technicians
• Test and characterisation facilities that offer end-to-end concurrent design infrastructure and services.

The industry

Canberra’s space industry unites innovative players across government, industry, educational institutions, and the research community. There’s momentum and excitement here around the research projects being undertaken and commercialised which you won’t find anywhere else in Australia or internationally.

World-class infrastructure and facilities located or head-quartered in Canberra, include:

• Australian National Concurrent Design Facility (ANCDF) at UNSW Canberra combined with ANU’s National Space Test Facilities (NSTF) at the Advanced Instrumentation Technology Centre (AITC) provide Australia’s only end-to-end facilities for the design, building and testing of spacecraft.
• CSIRO’s Centre for Earth Observation – a catalyst for engagement with Australian businesses, government agencies and research organisations.
• The Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC) – managed by CSIRO on behalf of NASA, this is one of only three NASA Deep Space Network Facilities in the world and currently supports more than 30 deep space missions.

The Canberra Region Space Industry Capability Directory lists space companies based in the Canberra region. 

ACT Government’s commitment

The ACT Government is committed to working with the national space sector to help build a globally competitive industry. Find out more on the ACT Government’s commitment.

Contact us to learn more about opportunities within Canberra’s space sector