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• Cook Government commits $3.5 million co-investment to build satellite capability
• Funds directed through the Government’s Investment Attraction Fund (IAF)
• WA Earth Observation company LatConnect 60 to build satellite assembly facility

Western Australia will soon be building commercial satellites with the Cook Government today announcing another boost to expand the local space industry.

At the lauch of WA Space Week, the Minister for Science Stephen Dawson said the State Government had committed $3.5 million towards establishing a local commercial satellite build capability.

The funding is being directed through the Government’s Investment Attraction Fund (IAF) towards assisting WA Earth Observation company LatConnect 60 to construct WA’s first ever commercial satellite assembly facility.

The facility will be suitable for:

• satellite payload development and manufacturing;
• satellite assembly; and
• payload integration.

LatConnect 60 is co-investing a further $3.5 million (for a total of $7 million) to fund sensor calibration, spectrum licence, ground segment (operations and communications) along with data processing.

The multi-million dollar funding package will facilitate the construction of a satellite that will be launched in 2026 and will be used to detect, monitor and quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the world.

LatConnect 60 is aiming to provide near daily monitoring of assets globally and to achieve this they plan on building a constellation of up to 18 satellites in WA.

The market size of the global small satellite industry is expected to grow from US $2 billion in 2022 to US $13.2 billion by 2032.

Over 2,300 small satellites were launched in 2022 and a further 50,000 are anticipated to be launched globally by 2030.

For more information see: https://latconnect60.com/

Space Week: The first ever Western Australia Space Week has taken off with three major international space conferences being held in Perth this week.

The conferences include: the Andy Thomas Space Foundation’s Australian Space Education Forum, 2024 Indo-Pacific Space and Earth Conference and the 2024 Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum.

Over 700 delegates, many from around the world, are attending to share ideas, promote international collaboration, and explore opportunities in space and cross-sector technologies.

For more information see: Western Australia Space Week

As stated by Premier Roger Cook:

“Our State continues to make moves in the ever-growing spaceindustry,andestablishing a commercial satellite assembly facilitywill support this growth.

“Investing in new industries is key to myGovernment’s commitmentto diversifying our State’s economy, creating quality jobs and opportunities for generations to come.

“Hosting the Indo-Pacific Space and Earth Conference is a great opportunity to show off our State as a global destination for space technology and innovation.”

As stated by Science Minister Stephen Dawson:

“The Cook Government continues to fund the expansion of our exciting space industry and establishing a commercial satellite assembly facility will ensure WA remains a vital global asset.

“Developing this satellite facility will assist a consistent transfer of technology knowledge as well as provide a place of training for local engineers and students.

“WA is becoming well known as the ‘place for space’ and this further investment continues to keep our State rocketing towards the future and a globally recognised Indo-Pacific space hub.”