Australia’s first sovereign orbital rocket to take flight
Gilmour Space Technologies has announced the launch window for the maiden flight of Eris, the first Australian-designed and built rocket aiming for orbit.
The venture-capital-backed Australian aerospace company said the launch window would start “no earlier than March 15”.
Eris TestFlight1 will be the first Australian-made rocket to attempt orbit, and the nation’s first orbital launch in over 50 years.
Granted final airspace approvals from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and Airservices Australia, the company is now preparing for lift off.
The project marks the culmination of years of R&D and manufacturing by the Gold Coast-based company.
Eris TestFlight 1 will be launched from Gilmour Space Technologies’ private launch site Bowen Orbital Spaceport in the Abbot Point State Development Area in North Queensland.
“This will be the first attempt of an Australian rocket to reach orbit from Australian soil,” said Adam Gilmour, co-founder and CEO of Gilmour Space.
“Only six countries in the world are launching regularly to space using their own technology, and Australia could soon be one of them.”
The rocket’s namesake, Greek goddess Eris, was the personification of strife and discord, contention, rivalry and chaos.
Gilmour said launches have windows rather than set days because delays caused by weather conditions, technical issues or other factors are normal and can last anywhere from hours, days or even weeks.
He also stressed that the first launch is always the hardest, highlighting the fact that Elon Musk’s SpaceX only reached orbit on its fourth attempt.
“It’s almost unheard of for a private rocket company to launch successfully to orbit the first time,” he said.
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“Whether we make it off the pad, reach max Q, or get all the way to space, what’s important is that every second of flight will deliver valuable data that will improve our rocket’s reliability and performance for future launches.
“We now build rockets in Australia. And this is only the beginning.”
Gilmour Space was founded in 2012, and began its rocket program in 2015.
It is backed by private investors including Blackbird, Main Sequence, Fine Structure Ventures, Queensland Investment Corporation and superannuation funds like HESTA, Hostplus and NGS Super.
