Southern Launch established its headquarters in Adelaide in 2018, before the city was announced as home for the Australian Space Agency.

Environmental impact assessments were being undertaken as of May 2021, with plans to modify the site and implement mitigation strategies should problems be found.

[23] Protests took place at the site ahead of the first scheduled launch on 9 September 2021, after whales were reported swimming in Fishery Bay, east of the maritime exclusion zone, and police attended.

[25] An ecologist from the University of Adelaide and the NCSSA are concerned that the extensive clearing (23.76 ha (58.7 acres) of vegetation) and construction work involved in expanding the facility could cause the southern emu wren to become extinct.

[10] In early October, a rare square-tailed kite was photographed at the site, but it is thought likely that it was a chick from a nest a long distance away.