The ASRI was created to provide opportunities for space-related industry and technology development for the Australian technical community.

Australia was granted status as the only non-European member of ELDO (one of the precursors to the European Space Agency) in return for providing the launch facilities.

The Small Sounding Rocket Program (SSRP), initiated in 1996,[4] provides Australian educational institutions with a low cost payload launch service.

The service was expanded to include individuals, companies, foreign universities and non-commercial organisations seeking assistance to launch their own vehicles.

The subsequent rocket, named AUSROC II-2 was successfully launched in 1995 from Woomera, although it did not reach its target apogee due to pressurisation problems with the LOX tank.

It was designed to incorporate a rapid setup and launch capability that would provide the payload with the option of polar or equatorial orbit profiles.

The discontinued Australis Microsatellite program aimed to develop a low-cost, autonomous satellite that could be used for a variety of applications such as low Earth orbit communications, remote sensing and small scale science experiments.

The project was put on hold in 2000 when CRCSS withdrew funds due to cost and schedule over-runs with a joint American-Australian venture, FedSat.

The Centre for Hypersonics at the University of Queensland (UQ) performs extensive research into developing the science behind scramjet propulsion.

[8] The hypersonics project, currently on hold is a joint effort between ASRI and UQ to develop a free-flight scramjet engine.