In 1987, a confidential cabinet document landed on the desk of Northern Territory industries minister Marshall Perron.

It was not positive news.

A working party of nine NT people had been commissioned to scope the feasibility of building a spaceport in the Top End.

They were asked to solve the same question as the ABC has been posed as part of Curious Darwin.

"How viable is [the idea to build] a spaceport in the Northern Territory?" Curious questioner Robert Davie asked.

Curious Darwin is our story series where you ask us the questions, vote for your favourite, and we investigate. You can submit your questions on any topic at all, or vote on our next investigation.

The global space industry is supposed to be worth $US1 trillion by 2030. ( ESA/ATG medialab )

Renewed interest in Top End site

The NT study more than three decades ago — undertaken for less than $5,000 — assessed the viability of three sites at Darwin, Port Stuart, and Nhulunbuy.

But unfortunately, for a society on the cusp of recession, the rocket plan fizzed.

"The working party has reluctantly drawn the inevitable conclusion that none of the studied sites is suitable for a commercial spaceport," read the 1987 report, which was finally released last year.

It kyboshed the plan due to the closeness of the "impact zones" to populated communities, and because of a perceived lack of investment interest.

"To be successful a facility would need to … secure commitments from foreign governments, eg China and Japan, concerning usage of facilities," the report read.

"France has indicated that it has no interest in a Northern Territory facility and Japan has publicly turned down collaboration in Queensland."

A press release was drafted, and the spaceport plan was shelved due to "unacceptable risks".

That seemed to be the end of it.

But now, more than 30 years later, a new space gold rush has the NT Government — along with academics, industry experts and start-up companies — looking to get skin in the game, once again eyeing the horizon.

A space industry may be the future of the NT. ( Source: NT Government )

Smartphone boom fuels space revolution

The demand for satellites being shot into space has boomed dramatically, thanks to the breakneck speed of global digital advancement.

From satellite television, smartphones and car GPS to bushfire management and weather monitoring, consumer hunger for the space industry is expected to result in its economy growing to $US1 trillion ($1.41 trillion) by 2030, according to the new Territory Space Industry 2020 report released this month by the NT Government.

Things are looking up, said Elias Aboutanios, a senior lecturer at the University of NSW and deputy director of the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research.

"The Australian space industry is picking up … we have a flurry of activity," he said.

"South Australia is grabbing a big share of that, [but] the NT has some advantages going for it."

Mr Aboutanios cited the NT's proximity to the equator — a favourable location for rocket launches due to fast ground speed conditions — as a major advantage for the region to claim a serious stake in the industry.

He said market conditions were also turning rapidly to help facilitate its take-off.

"The issues hopefully would not be as great as they were in the past," he said.

"Traditionally the issues in Australia have been related to [a lack of] government support, the economic environment, and the general perception in the public and the industry that Australia just can't do space.

"Now that is changing; the attitude, the mentality; there is momentum."

A retro image taken from a NT feasibility study from 1987. ( Supplied )

Plan to launch rocket from NT this year

The NT Government is chasing a taste of the space industry spoils on offer.

"[The industry] complements the Territory's existing defence, aerospace, agribusiness, energy, mining, tourism and land and marine management sectors," the Territory Space Industry 2020 report read.

"Industry is in the early stages of development with significant growth opportunities."

At the heart of the Government's current aspiration is its support for a private industry project — a spaceport to launch suborbital satellites being built on Aboriginal-owned land in East Arnhem Land.

Space industry start-up Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) has been forging ahead with the project announced in 2017, and according to the report is "well progressed on plans to develop the Arnhem Space Centre near Nhulunbuy".

ELA chief executive Carley Scott told the ABC that the project remained on track, and that the firm was planning to potentially have a rocket in the air by this year's tropical dry season.

"We're looking to ideally have a small rocket launched this year, in 2019, and bring the community along for that journey," said Ms Scott, who would not yet reveal an exact timeframe for blast-off.

Equatorial Launch Australia chief executive Carley Scott says a launch will happen in the dry season. ( ABC News: Emily Smith )

Arnhem Space Centre 'a viable concept in NT'

Ms Scott said the idea of a spaceport was no longer a fantasy and pledged that it would come to fruition in East Arnhem Land.

"A spaceport is a viable concept in the Northern Territory and in Australia more broadly … the number one reason why a spaceport is viable is because of the changes in market," she said.

ELA's model will be to loan its East Arnhem rocket launch site to space companies looking to send smaller scale satellites into the sky.

It will operate "kind of like an airport", as one industry expert described it.

The chosen site's isolated location — a wide, bushy plateau not far from the site of the annual Garma Festival at Gulkula and about an hour's drive from Nhulunbuy — adds to its viability, Ms Scott said.

"You're actually looking at a region that has been really strongly benefitted by the history of mining as far as overcoming some of those hurdles that are associated with having a remote area," she said.

"You have a deep water port that's already there, a city-quality airport, the strong township of Nhulunbuy and nearby communities … you have some really important infrastructure that has already been established."

This shot from 2017 shows the untouched wilderness surrounding the East Arnhem spaceport site. ( ABC News: Matt Garrick )

Land tenure poses long-term hurdles

One of the biggest challenges for any industry wanting to open up shop in East Arnhem Land is being granted land tenure from the region's Yolngu traditional owners.

For the ELA spaceport, the company has managed to successfully lease the land for the site from regional heavyweights the Gumatj clan, after a period of consultation with the Northern Land Council (NLC).

This decision remains controversial, however, with some Indigenous leaders saying the lease may yet be formally challenged if other groups come forth with provable claims to ownership of the site.

Independent NT MLA politician Yingiya Mark Guyula has consistently claimed the NLC consultation over the site was not properly undertaken.

"When we talk about 'is this viable for the NT', it might be viable for the non-Indigenous, for those people who want to make a contract, but Yolngu I know have still been waiting for a proper consultation which never happened," Mr Guyula said.

"As they know that there's going to be rockets coming nearby, people lately starting to ask about it, and they were very, very worried … how's it going to affect people out there."

Mr Guyula said he believed "that area where the spaceport is going to be is a contested land".

MLA Yingiya Guyula has long been concerned over a lack of consultation over the plans. ( ABC News: Matt Garrick )

"Many songlines [cut] right across Arnhem Land ... when you look at it through Yolngu eyes it's like the city of New York out there, with the songlines and the sacred sites."

Ms Scott remained firm that sufficient consultation had been conducted with the NLC to "walk forward in this project" amid this "complex system".

"There's a lease now in place for ELA to proceed," she said.

A NLC spokesman said "widespread consultations" were conducted over this matter.

"[The NLC] is confident that the requirements of the Land Rights Act in relation to the consent of traditional owners were followed, and that interested and affected groups were given the opportunity to comment about the proposal," a spokesman said.

Promise to help support remote region

Ms Scott said once regulatory and environmental approval processes were completed, the region's economy would benefit from the spaceport's blast-off — both in the township of Nhulunbuy and in surrounding Yolngu communities.

She said the opportunities offered to Yolngu could include training with drone technologies, 3D manufacturing and work for ranger groups to help collect rocket debris from the land.

The hope of building a space-based post-mining future for the region is one shared by Jordy Bowman, the chief executive of Developing East Arnhem Limited (DEAL).

"We're really looking at mapping the opportunities for our local businesses, particularly around servicing what a mission would look like, what a launch would look like; things like catering, accommodation, logistic services," Ms Bowman said.

The Territory Government is pushing ahead with the region's space industry, ( Supplied: NT Government )

She also voiced her faith in ELA to deliver.

"I recently attended the first Australian space industry conference … [and] it was really clear that Equatorial Launch is well-respected in the space industry, and the industry is excited about the facility and the opportunities that are presented in East Arnhem and in the NT generally," she said.

Commercial risks

The spaceport is not without its commercial risks, and opinions differ on ELA's financial status and its ability to attract enough big money clients to get the industry off the ground in the Territory.

Mr Aboutanios said given the boom-or-bust nature of space industry start-ups, the success of ELA in the NT was by no means a given, and the project's viability "remains to be seen".

"[ELA] seem to be serious, I've seen them present a couple of times at workshops," Mr Aboutanios said.

"The momentum is there at the moment, the enthusiasm is there, but it depends on other things … the attrition of start-ups is a major factor.

"At the moment we have a really good start-up culture in Australia … but start-ups have inherently a large risk associated with them — a lot of start-ups come into being and very few survive."

William "Bill" Barrett, a long-term industry expert now at Asia Pacific Aerospace Consultants, was asked if ELA's East Arnhem proposal stacked up.

"In principle, there's no reason why it shouldn't," he said.

"I think they've got a viable site, but the big thing is launch demand."

The NT could soon reap the benefits of a new Australian Space Agency, updated regulation and an era of small satellites. ( Supplied: NASA )

Ms Scott said the firm was "talking to some very exciting customers who are looking to launch through into 2020".

One of those expected high-profile clients is NASA, with the Territory Space Industry 2020 report listing a future milestone to take place next year: "NASA Australian suborbital sounding rocket campaign [at the] Arnhem Space Centre".

Can NT cross the final frontier?

Between Mr Perron's disappointing report of 1987 and the optimism of Chief Minister Michael Gunner's one in 2019, the world has changed dramatically.

The NT, however, still remains driven — sometimes forward, sometimes back — by many of the same conditions as 30 years ago: a need for private investment, a looming recession, issues with land tenure, remoteness, and a have-a-go mentality.

So would the promised spaceport be a small step or a giant leap forward for NT-kind?

As Mr Aboutanios put it, "only the future will tell".