The head of Australia’s space agency has told InDaily that a new $1.16 billion satellite project unveiled in Tuesday’s budget will be run out of Adelaide, and suggested the SA space sector is well placed to capitalise.

The National Space Mission for Earth Observation aims to build and launch four satellites that provide earth observation data for natural disasters, agriculture and mining.

Enrico Palermo, the head of the Adelaide-based Australian Space Agency, said the project represents a significant opportunity for South Australia’s burgeoning space industry.

“The Agency will be home to the Program Management Office and will be responsible for procuring the four satellites at the centre of the first phase of the National Space Mission,” he said.

“The National Space Mission, Australia’s first, is expected to have a supplier network of more than 100 companies from across Australia. Given South Australia is home to so many leading space companies and advanced manufacturers — and will soon be home to the Australian Space Park at Adelaide Airport — there will be a great opportunity for local industry to play a role.”

Palermo added that the project will deliver growth across the space sector even for companies not directly involved in the project, building a foundation for continued space missions into the future.

The mission will see an annual spend of $39 million, and is expected to generate 500 jobs and involve 100 local companies in the initial design and build phase.

The project will be led by the Australian Space Agency in partnership with Geoscience Australia, CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and Defence.

Professor Andrew Dempster, Director of the UNSW Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research, told InDaily the satellite project was the kind of major project the Australian space sector has been “waiting decades for”.

Dempster said the scale of the project would likely require a large primary contractor, but warned that it “depends where money gets spent” as to what kind of boost it would deliver to Australia’s space sector.

“The risk with these big announcements is most the money goes to the big prime contractor, which solves particular problem, in this case solving problems with water, fires, whatever,” he said. “But then is there a legacy, has the industry gained anything? It’s like with the submarine contract — is Australia going to make boats again after that? It’s an awful lot of money to spend without leaving a legacy.”

Dempster added that South Australia was not guaranteed to secure any of the supply chain of work that would come from the project, and had no particular advantage over the rest of the country.

“The Australian Space Agency only went to SA as a political decision, he said. “It went there as a Christopher Pyne special, and Christopher Pyne isn’t going to build the satellite.”

University of South Australia Director of Defence and Space Matt Opie told InDaily he did not think the change in state government would negatively impact the space sector, which the former Marshall government had made a priority.

“Support for the local space industry has been bipartisan,” he said. “The previous Liberal state government did a great job of attracting the Australian Space Agency and Mission Control … the incoming Labor government has indicated ongoing support for the space sector and has appointed Susan Close as Defence and Space Industries Minister.”

The satellite plan follows a federal government announcement of $20 million for Fleet Space Technologies’ Australian Space Manufacturing Hub at the Australian Space Park in the Adelaide Airport precinct.

Fleet Space Technologies CEO and Co-Founder Flavia Tata Nardini welcomed the announcement of the billion dollar satellite program.

“Significant investment at a government level like this fortifies our collective mission to become one of the world’s fastest-growing space economies,” she said.

“This culture of innovation has enabled Fleet’s ability to manufacture satellites in Australia, underpinning a major sovereign technological capability. With this, we can look optimistically at our space industry’s sustained role in driving Australia’s long-term economic prosperity.”

Geoscience Australia will assume responsibility for handling and distributing the data the satellites will provide, as well as operating them once in-orbit.

Functions will include providing crop health information to farmers and agricultural forecasters daily rather than every eight to 10 days, said Geoscience Australia CEO James Johnson.

“Other potential areas of interest include environmental and hazard monitoring, urban planning, water quality and availability, construction, financial services, resources, weather analysis and forecasting,” he said.