US space agency NASA is set to launch rockets from Australia for the first time in 27 years, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Wednesday.
Three suborbital sounding rockets will take off from the Northern Territory's Arnhem Space Centre, owned and operated by commercial company Equatorial Launch Australia, between June 26 and July 12.
This will be the first launch from a commercial launch facility outside of the US in NASA's history and the first NASA rocket launch from Australia since 1995 in Woomera, South Australia.
"It's terrific to be here in Darwin today to declare Equatorial Launch Australia and NASA go for launch," Albanese said in a press conference.
The rockets will be used to conduct astrophysics studies that can only be done from the Southern Hemisphere, NASA said. They will also investigate heliophysics - the nature and influence of the sun - and planetary science phenomena.
"The launches this summer will allow us to explore how a star's light can influence a planet's habitability among other things," NASA's Nicky Fox said.
Albanese said the rockets would travel some 250 kilometres "up into the sky to collect data on the physics of the sun and its relationship with Earth."
"This project will bring together global and local industry to take Australia's space sector into a new era," the premier said in a statement.
Australian Space Agency head Enrico Palermo said the launches would strengthen "Australia's long standing partnership with the United States in the peaceful uses of outer space."
