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Speaker 1: But as you've heard throughout the morning, well we do

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Speaker 1: know that the Prime Minister Anthony Alberanezi landed in Darwin

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Speaker 1: where he's signed off on the launch of NASA rockets

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Speaker 1: from the Northern Territories Arnham Space Center, which is the

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Speaker 1: first time that NASA rockets are going to be launched

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Speaker 1: from a commercial facility outside of the United States, and

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Speaker 1: also the first time that rockets have been launched from

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Speaker 1: the East Arnham facility. Now joining me on the line

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Speaker 1: to talk a little bit more about this situation is

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Speaker 1: Russell Shaw, the Chief commercial Officer at Equatorial Launch Australia.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Russell.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, thanks for having me Anaschak.

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Speaker 1: It's lovely to have you on the show.

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Speaker 2: Russell.

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Speaker 1: When are these rockets going to be launching?

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Speaker 2: And just a few weeks away? So it's a series

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Speaker 2: of three rocket launches and our first one will be

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Speaker 2: in just a few weeks on Sunday, the twenty sixth

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Speaker 2: of June, late in the evening.

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Speaker 1: Now I understand that this isn't just exciting for the

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Speaker 1: Northern Territory, you know, this is exciting realistically Alia wide

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Speaker 1: and worldwide.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, we are trying to and we're a part of

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Speaker 2: trying to build a specific launch capability for global space

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Speaker 2: companies to come and launch their records out of Australia

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Speaker 2: and the n Space. There is just such a great

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Speaker 2: place for them to launch, given how close it is

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Speaker 2: to the equator, which is really important for rocket launch

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Speaker 2: companies to get their their payloads into space. It's clearly

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Speaker 2: very remote, so there's no people around, and we've also

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Speaker 2: got fantastic infrastructure in and around Numbwe which makes the

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Speaker 2: facility which just works so well.

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Speaker 1: Russell. For those out there listening, there's going to be

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Speaker 1: a lot of people thinking, what are these scientific suborbital

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Speaker 1: sounding rockets and what exactly is this going to achieve?

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Speaker 1: This exercise of launching these rockets going to achieve, So

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Speaker 1: talk us through that.

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Speaker 2: What are they? So I'll try and make it as

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Speaker 2: USI a few times, but effectively they're effectively astrophysics studies

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Speaker 2: from the Universities of Colorado and Wisconsin in the US,

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Speaker 2: and they're focusing on the alpha centaury a mb stars,

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Speaker 2: which are the stars which are closest to us from

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Speaker 2: and as well as the X rays emanating from the

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Speaker 2: interstual medium, which is CAW the gases and the partygle

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Speaker 2: Beteeno stars. So it's really about learning more about the

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Speaker 2: universe which will help us in in further developing our

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Speaker 2: understanding of space as a as a globe.

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Speaker 1: And how big a deal is this for us here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory because I guess you know, it

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Speaker 1: sounds almost science fiction like Russell to think that there

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Speaker 1: are rockets being launched from out near Nullen Boy, But

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Speaker 1: you know, how big a deal is this for us

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Speaker 1: here in the territory.

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Speaker 2: I think it's a terrific opportunity for the Northern Territory

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Speaker 2: to showcase to the world that we are ready and

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Speaker 2: willing to effectively compete for these rocket launchers against government

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Speaker 2: owned facilities around the world world. And surely as we

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Speaker 2: look to build out the on Space Center and put

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Speaker 2: more launch pads in there, we'll be looking to grow

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Speaker 2: our cadence of recident to serve fifty then and which

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Speaker 2: clearly we're in substantial economic manifests ins Ma region as

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Speaker 2: well as tourism.

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Speaker 1: And I understand this is actually this is going to

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Speaker 1: be the first NASA rockets launched from Australia since nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety five, So it's been quite a while coming.

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Speaker 2: It has been a long while coming. And these particular

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Speaker 2: physics studies that they're doing, they have to be done

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Speaker 2: in the Southern hemisphere just because of where they're coming from.

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Speaker 2: So it happening oncome coming, But clearly we are looking

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Speaker 2: and there is an increasing opportunity with so many more

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Speaker 2: satellites going on into space for all sorts of abuservation,

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Speaker 2: in connectivity and so forth. This really is a going

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Speaker 2: market that we can capitalize on as a country and

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Speaker 2: as the region.

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Speaker 1: And how many staff are we expecting to be based

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Speaker 1: here and for what period of time?

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Speaker 2: Well, right now on the ground in No there's around

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Speaker 2: seventy five members of the mass team which are busy

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Speaker 2: assiming their rockets and getting ready to launch. They've also

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Speaker 2: got another fifteen or so coming from the university in

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Speaker 2: terms of the professors and all the specialists in these

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Speaker 2: in these areas. And so it is a pretty large

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Speaker 2: continent and the town is pretty full from accommodation.

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Speaker 1: I bet it is a little flace like Null and boy,

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Speaker 1: I bet it is absolutely bustling and a hive of excitement.

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Speaker 2: I'd imagine, yes it is. And what's great is that

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Speaker 2: all though, these these rockets go up into space pretty

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Speaker 2: quickly for around ten seconds. Once they're about around one

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifteen years of the sky, which which probably

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Speaker 2: only fact a hunder second or so, those rockets will

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Speaker 2: actually be invisible for anyone in talent who's looking to

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Speaker 2: try and catch an incident.

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Speaker 1: Yeah right, that was going to be my next question

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Speaker 1: whether anybody could see. But you will obviously have to

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Speaker 1: be a null and Boy to be able to see

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Speaker 1: those rockets.

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Speaker 2: That's right. We're very the completely commensation perspectively kind of

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Speaker 2: anyone on the site to the rocket it's being launched.

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Speaker 1: Russell, Is this just the beginning now when it comes

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Speaker 1: to rocket launch what you're doing in Nullen Boy? Is

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Speaker 1: this just the beginning? Can we expect more of these

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Speaker 1: for the Northern territory.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, this is a stepping stone for us. It's really

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Speaker 2: the culmination of finishing the first stage of the Island

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Speaker 2: Space Center in terms of getting our first launch pad

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Speaker 2: down and our key equipment building. But we're using this

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Speaker 2: as a standboard and we're talking to a lot of

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Speaker 2: perspective customers from overseas who are really interested in the

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Speaker 2: unique benefits that the only space mender can provide to

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Speaker 2: them and their satellite customers. So, as I said earlier,

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Speaker 2: we're really looking to build a facility up into something

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Speaker 2: just probably three to four times beside of what it

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Speaker 2: currently is, and that will allow us to eventually get

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Speaker 2: to a point we were launching at least for a

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Speaker 2: record a week.

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Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what it's really it is very

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Speaker 1: exciting and it's really very interesting I think for the

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Speaker 1: North Territory. For a lot of people listening this morning,

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Speaker 1: they certainly wouldn't have imagined that the Northern Territory was

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Speaker 1: going to be the location that was best for these

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Speaker 1: rockets to be launched. So it does sound like it's

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Speaker 1: a good day. Russell Shaw, the chief commercial Officer at

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Speaker 1: Equatorial Launch Australia, we really appreciate you having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks very much for good Tom.

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Speaker 1: Thank you