A Hazelbrook space company has been contracted by the Defence Department to send high altitude balloons into the atmosphere.
Launched from West Wyalong in June, the trials are testing Defence's ability to quickly send sensors and communications equipment into the upper atmosphere carried on a balloon.
The head of ThunderStruck Space, engineer Robert Brand, said they were sending the specialised balloons about 35km up into the atmosphere for a couple of hours at a time, and when they came down they could land anywhere in the surrounding vicinity.
"The balloon is two metres and grows to 15 metres in diameter as the air pressure drops and you have to find it. We knock on a farmer's door and ask if they have had something like this fall on to their property," Mr Brand said.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said the balloons could carry sensors to send data to Defence about what's going on in the air, on the ground or at sea.
"Having these high altitude balloons as part of Australia's sovereign capability means that we could deploy advanced sensors into the atmosphere quickly and cost-effectively, giving our forces comprehensive data in the air, on the ground, or at sea," she said.
Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price, said the trials gave the Morrison government greater opportunities to access innovative Australian stratospheric launch capabilities.
"It offers Australian industry the chance to conduct quick and relatively low-cost, pre-launch testing of space payloads, before being integrated onto launch vehicles for deployment into orbit," she said.
Asked whether it would be possible for a balloon to be sent up with the technology to read a sign on a building from the stratosphere, Mr Brand said: "You could have really good cameras to do that. It's not being used for spying on anyone."
Mr Brand's company has also been building stratospheric airships, which he says could be useful for monitoring bushfires from the sky at night.
"They can update on every person's health; if they are overheated or sitting down. They can stay over a fire and provide information," Mr Brand said.
"We are not using helicopters that can't stay in one spot in the night."
ThunderStruck Space operates out of Mr Brand's Hazelbrook home, but has staff located around the world. The company is also working on a system to safely land a probe on Mars, and another project to send rockets into space.