Get in touch
Tell us about your venture and we'll come back with our view of the next steps — and whether we're the right team for the work.
Otherworldly ambitions?
Engage lawyers who share your passion for the final frontier. We handle the full commercial stack of Australian space enterprise — from launch licence applications to the procurement contracts you'd rather not be drafting yourself.
Legal services for commercial space industry.
We bring deep experience across software, cyber security and technology services and we're applying it to ventures exploring the final frontier. Engineering-fluent counsel that meets your technical team where they actually work.
Our commitment to space legals
We have an ambition to be Australia's premier law practice for space industry. We bring our practitioners' years of experience working in future industries like software, cyber security and technology services to ventures exploring the final frontier.
Launch licences, and beyond
We're equipped to handle the full range of commercial law needs of Australian space enterprise. A Launch Facility Licence is the headline, but the majority of the day-to-day legal needs are much smaller, much more frequent, and much less glamorous — that's where a tech-driven commercial practice earns its keep.
01 · Launch Licensing
Launch Licensing
End-to-end preparation and submission of Launch Facility Licences, Launch Permits and High Power Rocket Permits. We run the project management, ASA liaison, and the cross-disciplinary document stack required for approval.
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02 · Legal Compliance
Legal Compliance
Ongoing risk management across employment, environmental, radio-communications, data privacy and cyber security — co-ordinated through Artificer OnDemand so front-line staff get counsel as-needed, on a predictable budget.
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03 · Digital Contracting
Digital Contracting
Modernise your commercial paper so customers can transact with you at speed. Digital signature flows, template systems and playbooks that let sales and procurement close deals without a legal bottleneck.
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04 · Tendering (RFx)
Tendering (RFx)
Sell to government, defence and enterprise primes with strict procurement processes. Bid support, tender response drafting, and negotiation of flow-down terms through prime-contractor arrangements.
ExploreSpace regulation in one briefing.
Australia's Space (Launches and Returns) Act 2018 consolidated the country's space regulation and established the Australian Space Agency. Here's how that changed they way current and prospective space enterprises need to operate.
The consolidation
It was widely publicised in 2018 when the Commonwealth Government reworked Australia's Space Activities Act 1998 into the new Space (Launches and Returns) Act 2018 (SLRA) and created the Australian Space Agency (ASA).
This consolidation is the backdrop to Australia's modern integration into international commercial space enterprise, and codifies Australia's obligations under the five major international space treaties it is signatory to.
What it means for your enterprise
The bottom line for any aspiring space entrepreneur is that the ASA is the regulator for the SLRA — an instrument of law that principally imposes penalties for activities in space which are not appropriately licensed or authorised.
The objective of the SLRA is to strike the right balance between safe space operations and the encouragement of innovative space technologies in Australia. In theory, the ASA exists to authorise any space enterprise that can establish, to its satisfaction, that proper safety and environmental risk management is present.
CASA authorisation still essential
Most launch facilities also need authorisation from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to enter and use the airspace around their launch facility — in addition to wherever any return from orbit or high altitude may occur.
How we can help
Our approach is to run a launch licensing project like any other complex technology roll-out — using our modernised, tech-driven project management approach to bring together the various experts and parties required to weigh in on the application.
We typically adopt the role of liaison with the ASA and its representatives. It's considered best practice to have senior legal practitioners with domain expertise as core representatives of your operation in dealings with the ASA; most of the agency's personnel will have deep familiarity with the legislative requirements and will expect your organisation to show the same.
The road to launch.
Once you've identified the need for a launch licence, we guide you through application, assessment and every regulatory hurdle in between. The best predictor of a fast approval is the readiness of your application pack on the day you lodge it.
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Scope your operation and the right instrument.
Identify whether your operation calls for a Launch Facility Licence, a Launch Permit or a High Power Rocket Permit — and the rules of the road that come with each.
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Pull together the application pack.
Documentation needs to strike the right balance between a technical and a government/administrative audience — similar in detail to selling software to government. The pack typically covers site access & construction, facility management plans, flight paths & scheduling, financial standing, engineering specifications, emergency & fire plans, environmental impact, and technology & cyber security.
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Prepare the pack with cross-disciplinary review.
Counsel works alongside engineering, financial and safety reviewers so the pack reads coherently across every audience that will scrutinise it.
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Submit and respond to ASA inquiries.
Lodging is the start, not the finish. Expect iterative rounds — the Australian Space Agency will return with technical and administrative queries that need answering on the record.
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Close gaps and finalise operational plans.
Address gaps surfaced during assessment, provide supplementary evidence, and finalise the operational plans that will govern the licence once granted.
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Licence in hand — compliance commences.
Licence granted. Ongoing compliance obligations commence from this date, and our role shifts to keeping the licence in good standing through reporting, change-control and incident response.
Compliance, minus the orbital mechanics.
Navigating the laws governing space enterprise doesn't have to be harder than orbital mechanics. We help your venture reduce transactional friction and handle the emerging regulatory complexity that faces all tech-driven organisations.
EMP
Employment
Workplace law, engineering contracts and key personnel agreements — drafted to withstand regulatory scrutiny.
ENV
Environmental
Impact assessment, mitigation plans and ongoing monitoring obligations across the licence lifecycle.
RF
Radio-frequency
Spectrum licensing, telemetry and communications compliance for ground stations and airborne systems.
PRV
Data privacy
Privacy Act obligations, customer data handling and the cross-border flows that come with international partners.
CYB
Cyber security
Security posture, incident response and the supply-chain assurance regulators increasingly expect to see documented.
EXP
Explosives & fire
Dangerous goods licensing and local fire prevention measures tied to range and facility operations.
MAR
Maritime
Range safety over waterways, recovery vessels and harbour coordination for sea-recovered stages.
LND
Land use
Zoning, planning approvals and facility-adjacent property — the unglamorous foundation under every launch site.
Ready for launch?
Leave us a short message about your space enterprise and we'll come back with what we see as the next steps — fast, commercial, and without the billable-hour meter running.
Free, fast pricing
Once we've agreed to help, we deliver an online Statement of Work with fixed estimates. Don't sign anything before you've seen ours.
Free digital consult
A no-obligation videoconference to discuss the way forward. Typically 30 minutes — enough to agree a direction, not enough to bill you for.