Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) has appointed Travis Marshall as the firm’s new Head of Business Development. Travis is an ex-Apple executive and Royal Australian Air Force Navigator/Intelligence Officer. The appointment strengthens the company’s senior commercial team as the firm expands toward wider commercial and Defence space opportunities.
The newly created role will be pivotal in developing customized launch contracts including launch, engine testing, payload and mission management, mission planning and consultation for Defence and international newspace commercial rocket companies looking to launch from the Arnhem Space Centre.
Travis is a graduate of the Australian Defence Force Academy, the Canadian Forces Air Navigation School and the Defence Intelligence Training Centre. He conducted several operational deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, with his final deployment serving as the Chief of Key Leadership Engagement based in Kandahar.
Travis home base will be at ELA’s headquarters at Lot Fourteen in Adelaide with extensive travel to the Arnhem Space Centre in East Arnhem Land, Canberra and internationally to meet with clients in their hometowns.
ELA has grown significantly since its three successful launches with NASA in 2022 and attention is now focused on developing the Arnhem Space Centre as a multi-user commercial spaceport, as well as a key piece of infrastructure in Australia’s sovereign space Defence capability.
The Arnhem Space Centre, in East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, is located 12 degrees south of the equator, offering rocket companies and their payload customers multiple orbit options, operational freedom and simplicity for their launch and mission design.
“As ELA continues its schedule of discussions with international rocket launchers, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Travis to help drive that process and to ensure we fill out our immediate launch schedule as well as preparing for the next five to ten years of launches from the spaceport. Additionally, Travis will hold the remit to expand our horizons into defence where we are uniquely positioned to provide sovereign infrastructure and capabilities that contribute to Australia’s access to space.” — Michael Jones, Group CEO and Executive Chairman, Equatorial Launch Australia,
“With my background in technology and Defence, the space industry has long been an area that I wanted to transition into, and ELA stood out as an exciting opportunity. We are on track to deliver more commercial launch contracts by the end of the year, and I am excited to be able to assist in this key endeavor.” — Travis Marshall, Business Development Head, ELA