An Australian company that is set to own the world's largest privately operated rocket test range says the space industry here is well protected from the fallout caused by COVID-19.
But one space engineering expert said it might be too early to tell.
The Pentagon has warned that the US domestic small space launch industry was one of those, along with aviation and shipbuilding, particularly vulnerable to the pandemic's economic downturn.
Southern Launch is set to operate Australia's first commercial rocket launch site at two locations: one on the southern tip of South Australia's Eyre Peninsula and the other at Koonibba on the state's west coast.
Chief executive Lloyd Damp said the unique way the Australian space industry had been built from the ground up protected it from economic downfall.
"Our funding model is very different to how small space launch companies operate in the US; fundamentally those companies are all backed by venture capital firms," Mr Damp said.
"We don't go after $100 million and promise the world. We go after a lesser amount and make sure we have more milestones along the process under our control."
He said not relying on international manufacturers had also kept projects on track.
"Because we have a strong philosophy of using local industry … we've been able to progress quite a few things in the interim," he said.
'A little bit difficult to predict'
But Andrew Dempster, the director of the Australian Centre of Space Engineering Research at UNSW, said the answer might not be so simple.
Professor Dempster said funding for the Australian domestic space industry worked differently to that in the US and, while at this stage the Australian model looked promising, it was too early to tell.
"I'm not going to put my hat in the ring one way or the other at this stage; the fallout from COVID-19 is a little bit difficult to predict.
"Economic downturn tends to have a lag associated with it, projects in space are so big and so long term that specific projects tend to fall through during economic downturns, and potentially new projects may be put on hold."
But Mr Damp said that would not be an issue for Southern Launch.
"Our customers are still raring to go," he said.
"We have space-capable rockets in Australia with customers waiting for coronavirus to pass, so we can hopefully do what will be Australia's first commercial space launch."
