A paper published by a Queensland inquiry into job creation opportunities from the establishment of an Australian space industry said the sector needed skilled workers in manufacturing, technology, mining, aviation and defence.

Queensland needed to develop and leverage the existing capabilities of Queensland industries, and demonstrate how new and existing businesses could insert themselves into a complex supply chain, the paper said.

For example, autonomous systems developed for mining, such as control centres to manage trucks and robotics, could be adapted and used to manage space activities.

Pam Melroy, from Nova Systems, argued Australians could bring the ingenuity they brought to operating in remote, harsh environments to bear in the next international steps planned to the moon and Mars.

Space Industry Association chair Michael Davis said the Australian space sector produced annual revenues of $3 billion to $4 billion and employed between 9500 and 11,500 people from its 0.8 per cent share of the global space economy.

Mr Davis said the establishment of an Australian Space Agency, launched in June 2018, could double that figure within five years.

"Further, we argued the agency should have an aim of capturing 4 per cent of the world market for Australian industry within 20 years, a five-fold increase in the industry's current global market share," he said.

There is limited ground station infrastructure in Australia, meaning satellite data has to be downlinked and processed overseas, in places such as Alaska and France.

If there were additional ground stations in Australia, those images could be processed and provided within minutes rather than days.

Adelaide has been chosen as the headquarters of the nation's space mission control centre, which is due to open in mid-2019.

The Queensland government has launched a feasibility study to identify available sites and suitable regions in the state for a satellite park and launch facility.

It is not the first time Queensland has aimed for the stars.

In 1986, then-premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen announced plans for the world's first commercial spaceport, to be known as the Cape York Spaceport, which he hoped would be a rocket-launching site and space transport project.

However, the project never eventuated as it ran into financial trouble and the Aboriginal land rights movement grew.