Funding to help Australian business join space industry supply chains.
The Government is currently reviewing programs to ensure its investments are targeted and aligned with policy priorities. We will contact all applicants regarding the status of your application once the review is complete.
In the meantime, please be reminded that under Section 5.2 of the Moon to Mars Initiative Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants, Grant Opportunity Guidelines, you must not commence your project until you execute a grant agreement with the Commonwealth.
Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants
Closing date: Monday 1 May 2023 5:00pm AEST Mon 1 May 2023 5:00pm AEST
Applications for each intake will close as follows:
- Intake 6 on Thursday 3 March 2022 at 11.59pm AEDT.
- Intake 7 on Thursday 16 June 2022 at 11.59pm AEST.
- Intake 8 on Thursday 15 September 2022 at 11.59pm AEST.
- Intake 9 on Tuesday 20 December 2022 at 11.59pm AEDT.
You may apply at any time up to 1 May 2023.
What do you get?
Grants from $250,000 up to $1 million to fund up to 75 per cent of eligible project expenditure.
Who is this for?
Australian businesses with a demonstrated domestic and/or international space supply chain opportunity.
Overview
The Australian Moon to Mars Initiative forms an important element of the Advancing Space: Australian Civil Space Strategy 2019-2028 and supports Australian businesses and researchers to join NASA’s inspirational endeavour to go forward to the Moon and then go on to Mars.
The Australian Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants support Australian businesses with domestic or international supply chain opportunities by providing grant funds for building their capacity, skills and capabilities.
The objectives of the Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants are to:
- grow Australian industry’s capability and capacity to support NASA’s endeavour to go forward to the Moon and then on to Mars
- grow the participation of Australian companies in domestic and/or international space supply chains that could support Moon to Mars activities
- grow the skills, capabilities and capacity of the Australian space industry.
Eligibility
What are the eligibility criteria?
To be eligible you must:
- have an Australian business number (ABN)
- be registered for the Goods and Services Tax (GST)
- be an entity incorporated in Australia and a trading corporation, where your trading activities
- form a sufficiently significant proportion of the corporation’s overall activities as to merit it being described as a trading corporation; or
- are a substantial and not merely peripheral activity of the corporation
We can only accept applications:
- where you can provide clear evidence, for example a letter of intent or contract from your customer, that demonstrates you have a domestic and/or international space supply chain opportunity
- where you can provide evidence from your board (or chief executive officer or equivalent if there is no board) that the project is supported, and that you can complete the project and meet the costs of the project not covered by grant funding
- where you can provide an accountant declaration that confirms you are a trading corporation and can fund your share of the project costs, including any ineligible expenditure. An accountant declaration template is available on business.gov.au and GrantConnect. If you do not use this template, you must include equivalent information and the declaration in your own document
Joint applications are acceptable, provided you have a lead organisation who is the main driver of the project and is eligible to apply.
You are not eligible to apply if you are:
- an individual
- partnership
- trust (however, an incorporated trustee may apply on behalf of a trust)
- a Commonwealth, State, Territory or local government body (including government business enterprises)
- a publicly funded research organisation
- a privately funded research organisation
- a corporate or non-corporate Commonwealth entity
If you are not eligible to apply, you may still be a part of a joint application provided you have a lead organisation who is the main driver of the project and is eligible to apply.
Applying
How do you apply?
You should read the grant opportunity guidelines and sample grant agreement before you apply.
To apply, you must submit your application through the online portal. You’ll need to set up an account when you first log into the portal. The portal allows you to apply for and manage a grant or service in a secure online environment.
We know many businesses have concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on grant applications and grant management. When applying for a grant, consider timeframes and constraints that may impact grant activities due to COVID-19.
If COVID-19 has impacted your ability to meet the obligations of your grant agreement, to discuss your circumstances and how we can assist you, you should contact:
- your customer service manager
- an agent at our Contact Centre.
You can find further COVID-19 government financial assistance and support for Australian businesses on our coronavirus information and support for business page.
Applications are assessed at least 3 times a year. Application intake dates are published in the FAQs.
We assess your application against the eligibility criteria and then against the assessment criteria. Only eligible applications will proceed to the assessment stage.
The amount of detail and supporting evidence you provide in your application should be relative to the project size, complexity and grant amount requested. You should define, quantify and provide evidence to support your answers. The sample application form displays character limits.
The Head or Deputy Head of the Australian Space Agency will make the final decision.
To be competitive you must score highly against all of the assessment criteria.
- How your project will grow your skills, capability and capacity to participate in domestic and/or international space industry supply chains (40 points)
- Your capacity, capability and resources to deliver the project (30 points)
- The impact of grant funding (30 points)
Refer to the grant opportunity guidelines for more detail about assessment criteria.
If your application is successful, you'll receive a written offer. If you are unsuccessful, we'll notify you in writing and give you the chance to discuss the outcome with us.
Successful applicants must enter into a grant agreement with the Commonwealth. The grant agreement will specify the reporting requirements, payment schedule and milestones necessary to receive payments.
We'll make the first payment when the grant agreement is executed. We'll make subsequent payments after we have received and accepted the required report.
Payments will be made by direct credit into a nominated bank account.
Apply now for Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability Improvement Grants
Before you apply, make sure you:
- read the guidelines
- sample agreement
Information sessions
A webinar was conducted on Monday 7 September by the Australian Space Agency and the Moon to Mars Program Delivery Team. The webinar provides program information and can be viewed on the Australian Space Agency’s YouTube channel. The presentation [PDF 5.12 MB] is available to view.
For more information on key questions raised, please go to the Frequently asked questions document in the Key documents section.
Need help?
Let us answer your question via phone, email or live chat. And if we can't help, we'll put you in touch with someone who can.
- Phone:
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Open Hours:
Monday – Friday, 8am – 8pm across Australia
- Website:
Key documents
Budget template
xlsx · 0.06 MB