The aerospace company that pulled off Australia’s first commercial rocket launch in East Arnhem earlier this year will be establishing its headquarters in Adelaide, creating dozens of new jobs in SA and not the NT.

Equatorial Launch Australia was reportedly provided with $100,000 by the SA Government to set up its operations in Adelaide, which it says will create up to 40 jobs in that state over the next three years.

The company said the new Adelaide headquarters will be functioning as a hub for launch preparation and safety assessment activities such as space-related engineering, that would attract “talent to South Australia”.

The NT Government meanwhile, “co-invested” $5 million into ELA in late 2021 to “support the rapid development of the Arnhem Space Centre”, which in said would “accelerate the Territory’s space industry and drive new investment”.

“It will create new jobs and opportunities for Territorians…,” a government statement said at the time. “The Australian launch market is estimated to be worth up to US $930 million over the next decade, and the Territory is well placed to capture a significant share of this market.”

ELA has started a local recruitment campaign in Adelaide for engineers and other specialist roles and expects to employ up to 40 people over the next three years.

The company is also recruiting positions for general managers, business development managers, and digital specialists, including multiple roles in engineering and business support functions.

Business operators in Gove reported a massive spike in business while ELA and NASA representatives were in the region for the launches in June and July.

Former chief minister Michael Gunner last year said that the government had “backed this project from inception” and heralded the launch as “another major job boost for our economic rebound from the coronavirus crisis”.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles did not respond to questions about ELA choosing to build their headquarters in Adelaide and if the NT Government had lobbied them to establish their headquarters in Darwin.

Ms Fyles has recently been spruiking a proposed new aerospace industry for Darwin with pledges from a company called Amphibious Aerospace Industries to build an amphibious aircraft in Darwin over the next few years.

ELA told the Adelaide Advertiser last week that the move to Adelaide would put the company closer to the Australian Space Agency, which grants launch permits for every launch in Australia and is located in the same precinct as ELA’s new headquarters.

“Adelaide and South Australia will be an essential base for our world-class space engineering in support of our planned high-tempo space launch operations from our Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory,” ELA executive chairman Michael Jones said.

In June and July this year, ELA’s Arnhem Space Centre hosted three rocket launches for NASA. The launches were NASA’s first rocket launch from a commercial spaceport outside the US. It was also Australia’s first commercial space launch.

“We look forward to taking a leading role in the development of the Australian space capability as we work towards achieving our mission to deliver world-class launch services supporting testing, launch and recovery of vehicles and payloads flown to and from all space orbits,” Mr Jones said.

The company was contacted by the NT Independent for this story.