French rocket company Sirius Space Services has inked an agreement with Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) for a multi-year, multi-launch program from the Arnhem Space Centre.
The two parties signed the contract at the World Space Business Week conference in Paris on September 18, 2024.
The agreement will see Sirius become a resident launcher at the spaceport from 2025, with their own dedicated space launch complex for the term of their multi-year contract. Sirius will take up an ELA-provided full-service solution, taking advantage of the suite of launch and mission support services and facilities available at the remote but cutting-edge commercial East Arnhem Land spaceport.
The campaign will begin with the development and test flights of Sirius 1 in 2026, followed by launches of the larger Sirius 13 (800kg payload capacity) in 2027.
The flexibility to access a range of orbits, including medium and low inclination orbits, SSO and equatorial, along with ELA’s full-service offering were the key reasons behind the decision by Sirius to sign with ELA for launches from the Arnhem Space Centre.
“Our decision to select ELA was driven by their advanced commercial spaceport concept, which includes state-of-the-art infrastructure, innovative commercial offerings, and exceptional customer service and support,” said Sirius Co-founder and CTO François Maroquene-Froissart. “ELA’s commitment to safety, operational excellence, and service aligns with our mission to deliver agile and competitive launch solutions to our global clientele.
The deal significantly emphasises the desirability of launching from the Arnhem Space Centre and the industry-leading advanced engineering and technology solutions and launch services provided by ELA.
“I’m delighted and excited to announce this contract with Sirius Space Services today,” said ELA’s Group CEO Michael Jones. “Sirius will become the second resident launcher at the Arnhem Space Centre, which means they will leverage ELA’s advanced commercial spaceport concept, taking advantage of our comprehensive suite of launch solutions, innovative commercial offerings and the best customer service and support to increase efficiency, safety, mission assuredness and commercial benefit to Sirius”.
“It was key for Sirius to have the ability to access unique orbit options to service their clients, and we are probably the only place on the planet that could provide access to these orbits, the support level required, and access to the scope of launch services in the timeframe required,” said Jones.
“We absolutely love working with Sirius, who we believe are amongst the most mature and advanced launch service providers we work with. We first visited CEO Antoine Fourcade and Francois Maroquene-Froissart in their offices in La Defence (Paris) nearly three years ago. We have visited numerous times, and they have joined us in Adelaide and at the ASC. We really like their whole team.”
Sirius has selected Space Launch Complex No.3 (SLC3), now re-badged ‘Le Mans,’ for their home base. The Le Mans SLC will have a dedicated 45m x 26m x 12m high horizontal integration facility with ISO 8 vertical payload integration clean room with its own full span, 20T gantry crane.
Le Mans SLC also has two ASC Advanced Launch Pads (ASCALPTM), where one will be fully developed to accommodate Sirius’ three rocket variants, Sirius 1, Sirius 13 and, in the future, the large 4 booster Sirius 15 variant. The other launch pad will be part-developed as a back-up. Sirius’s planned launch cadence may scale up to 18 launches per year.
Services to be provided by ELA as part of the deal include joint design, manufacturing, integration of a range of essential launch system equipment (under Sirius lead), as well as a comprehensive systems and services for launch and mission operations (under ELA lead). The service agreement covers a wide scope, including strongback and support/clamping equipment design and integration, propellant, oxidiser and gases provision and delivery to the rockets, launch management, mission control functions, assistance with launch permit applications, logistics to and from Paris to the ASC spaceport, on-site accommodation and detailed support for assembly, integration and test of both engines and rocket systems.
“When you combine the list of services and equipment offered with physical attributes of the spaceport, including minimal jet stream and stable upper atmosphere, low maritime and air traffic and all the attendant infrastructure assets in our area such as a sealed B737-capable runway and airport within 15 kilometres, deepwater port, weather monitoring facilities, hospital and no population within 30 kilometres, it’s quite compelling,” added Jones. “When added to the most important element, the access to more orbital inclinations for Earth Observation, Communication/IOT and Defence applications, the Arnhem Space Centre can be almost be considered a designer spaceport.”
“Sirius is bringing innovation into the small launch market by developing a range of agile and affordable and flexible launch solutions. They are an extremely impressive rocket company. The rate of progress during each of our visits to their premises in the past few years has been remarkable, and their vision for sustainable and reusable space systems is world-leading.”
The agreement is the second resident launcher contract for ELA and further validates its business model. Several other contracts and commercial alliance deals are expected to be announced shortly.
“We are currently in the final stages of negotiation with three more launchers about our resident launch contracts, so our remaining orbital complexes are filling fast,” said Jones. “The feedback we are receiving is that our comprehensive, full-service approach is really resonating with these rocket companies and their payload customers, and that is why we’ve developed our new tagline: ‘You build the rockets… we’ll take care of the rest.'”
In addition to its seven dedicated resident launcher space launch complexes, ELA has expanded its offering to include common-use, multi-user launch pads for adhoc launches as well as a suborbital multi-user launch pad facility.
“This contract demonstrates the potential for the ASC to deliver on our goal of being the pre-eminent commercial launch site globally,” added Jones. “With the combination of our launch pad design/technology, launch inclination options, respected geopolitical reputation, infrastructure, logistics and engineering support solutions, we know we offer a highly competitive and attractive spaceport solution.”
