News

South Australia’s undisputed national centre of Australia’s space industry has been boosted by the first ever commercial spacecraft re-entry of the Varda Space Industries capsule at the Southern Launch Koonibba Test Range.

The return of the first-ever commercial payload to Australian soil on a commercial site, and one of the first globally, makes South Australia the national centre for the full space flight ecosystem.

In South Australia, rockets can launch into space, enabling the industry to test and manufacture in space before returning safely to Earth.

US company, Varda Space Industries, is a pioneer in orbital manufacturing, which uses the microgravity and vacuum conditions of space to produce goods that cannot be manufactured on Earth. The company is commercialising re-entry, similar to Space X and others that have commercialised launches.

The W-2 capsule was launched on 14 January 2025, and lifted off aboard the Transporter-12 rideshare mission with SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. In total, it spent 45 days orbiting Earth before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere and landing on 28 February at 1.02am local time.

Varda pharmaceutical manufacturing capsules have been approved for a further two re-entries at Koonibba Test Range.

The re-entry is the result of significant year-long efforts by Austrade and the South Australian Government.

Austrade initiated the introduction of Varda to Southern Launch and engaged with the Australian Space Agency and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to commence negotiations, concluding with a treaty-level Australia-US Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA).

This agreement enabled Varda and pharmaceutical supply chains, and the rules-based international trading system, to function 'off-planet’.

Combined with Australia's unique geography, these efforts are building a global space industry in Australia and placing Australia and South Australia at the interface between the world's terrestrial and celestial economies.